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M E M I E 



OF 



WILLIAM PENN. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

PDBUSHED BY THK 

ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS FOR THE DIFFUSION OF RELIGIOUS 
AND USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, 

No. 109 North Tenth Street. 

1858. 



Fis 



52 



NOTE. 



This small volume has been carefully compiled, in order that 
a just view of the life and character of Wm. Penn may be 
readily accessible to the youthful reader, as well as to those of 
maturer age who cannot conveniently procure the larger volumes 
which contain in full his writings and his history. In it has 
been reprinted almost entire the publication of " The London 
Tract Association of Friends," entitled, "A Brief Memoir op 
"William Penn," enlarged by copious selections from his letters, 
and particulars respecting his treaties with the Indian tribes. 
These have been taken mainly from Enoch Lewis' Life of Wil- 
liam Penn, published in Vol. V. of ''Friends' Library," and 
from a publication entitled, "North American Indians and 
Friends," issued by the Aborigines' Committee of the London 
Meeting for Sufferings. The chapter respecting the calumnies 
of T. B. Macaulay has been prepared for this work from reliable 
and uncontroverted authorities. 



UU.<g. /'n.^/fSSf 



(2) 



MEMOIR 



OF 



WILLIAM PENN, 



THE FOUNDER OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER I. 1644-1668. 

HIS FATHER SIR WILLIAM PENN — WILLIAM PENN'S EDUCA- 
TION, DIVINE VISITATIONS, EXPULSION FROM OXFORD 

DISPLEASURE OF HIS FATHER INCIDENT AT PARIS IM- 
PRISONMENT IN IRELAND — BECOMES A FRIEND, AND REMAINS 

FIRM, THROUGH HIS FATHER'S OPPOSITION. 

I 

William Penn was bora in London in the year 
1644. Plis father, Sir William Penn, was of an 
ancient family of Buckinghamshire, and became dis- 
tinguished as a naval commander under the Common- 
wealth. Being attached however to the royal cause, 
he opened a correspondence with Charles, for which 
he was arrested and sent to prison ; and, though soon 
pardoned and set at liberty, he at length united with 
Monk and others in bringing Charles to the throne. 
For this and other services he was in favour with the 
king and handsomely rewarded; and being a vain 

(3) 



4 BRIEF MEMOIR OP 

ambitious man, he was anxious to prepare his son for 
a brilliant worldly career. William however had a 
natural seriousness and independence of mind, which 
indisposed him to second his father's designs, and 
formed the basis of his manly christian character in 
after life. 

' When about twelve years old, and at school at 
Chigwell in Essex, he had a remarkable vision, or 
'^ visitation of heavenly light/' which convinced him 
of the existence of a God, and of the capacity of the 
human soul to hold communion with Him. His 
mind was contrited under a sense of Divine love; 
and he believed himself called to a holy religious life. 
On entering the university of Oxford, his associations 
and pursuits tended to weaken these impressions : he 
studied hard, joined his fellow students in various 
sports, and became a general favorite. But the Lord 
preserved him in the midst of prevailing darkness 
and sin. He had a taste and ready capacity for 
learning, especially in the languages, history, and 
theology; entered with zest into puritanical discus- 
sions, and united with others in opposing the popish 
innovations encouraged by the Court. It was at this 
juncture that he first became acquainted with the 
religious views of the Friends, through the preaching 
of Thomas Loe, a minister of the Society, who held 
a meeting at Oxford. Young Penn and other students 
attended it, and being impressed with the doctrines 
declared, and with the simplicity and purity of true 
Christianity in opposition to a pompous, ceremonious 
ritual, they withdrew from the public services, and 



WILLIAM PENN. O 

held meetings among themselves for divine worship 
in a more simple way. This attracted the notice of 
the superiors ', the young nonconformists became the 
subject of obloquy and persecution, and were brought 
up, reprimanded, and fined ; yet nothing daunted, 
they persevered in their course, and were soon after- 
wards on this account expelled from the college. 

Sir William Penn was surprised and mortified at 
the conduct of his son, who, he had hoped, would be 
prepared to take a lead in fashionable and courtly 
circles ; and, acting on the impulse of his feelings, 
he had recourse to threats and even the whip, and, 
after fruitless attempts to efi'ect a change, turned 
him out of doors. This was in 1662. But the 
admiral, though violent in his temper, soon began to 
relent, and, being prevailed on by the intercessions 
of his wife, he resolved to try a gentle course^ in the 
hope to be more successful. The gay scenes and 
manners of Paris might, he thought, banish the in- 
creasing gravity of his son, and as some persons of 
rank, whom he knew, were going to France on their 
travels, it was arranged that young Penn should 
accompany them. He remained some time at Paris, 
where, being presented to Louis XIV., he is said to 
have been a frequent guest at court. Such scenes, 
and an acquaintance with distinguised young men 
in the higher circles, ejQPaced some of his former 
sedateness. 

Here he met with an incident which he has re- 
corded, for the purpose of showing the folly of those 
outward demonstrations of honour, which the pride 
1* 



6 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

of man has led him to invent and afterwards covet. 
" What envy, quarrels and mischief/' says he, in a 
work written after he became a Friend, " have 
happened among private persons, upon their conceit 
that they have not been respected according to their 
degree of quality among men, with hat, knee or title 
— even duels and murders not a few.'' In France I 
was myself once set upon, about eleven o'clock at 
night, as I was walking to my lodgings, by a person 
who waylaid me with his naked sword in his hand, 
and demanded satisfaction of me for taking no notice 
of him, at a time when he civilly saluted me with 
his hat, though, the truth was, I saw him not when 
he did it. Suppose he had killed me, for he made 
several passes at me, or that I in my defence had 
killed him, when I disarmed him ; I ask any man 
of understanding or conscience, if the whole round 
of ceremony were worth the life of a man, consider- 
ing the dignity of his nature and the importance of 
his life, with respect to God his Creator, himself, and 
the benefit of civil society. In the issue of this 
attack he displayed his humanity and regard for the 
life of a fellow-being, in permitting his assailant to 
pass away unharmed, though he had disarmed him, 
and had him completely in his power. At Saumur 
he pursued his studies under Moses Amyrault, a 
learned protestant minister of Calvinistic principles. 
With him he read the works of early christian 
writers, paid attention to various branches of theology, 
and acquired a good knowledge of French literature. 
He then proceeded to the South of Europe, and 



WILLIAM PENN. 7 

having reached Turin, was suddenly recalled home 
by the admiral, in 1664, to take charge of the family 
affairs, during his own absence at sea. 

The polished manners of young Penn, on his return 
to England, attracted much notice and gave his father 
'great satisfaction, since they procured him access to 
the highest circles of society, and afforded hope of 
his obtaining that honour, which his fond parent so 
highly valued. With this view, he was entered as 
a student at Lincoln's Inn, that he might become ac- 
quainted with the laws of his country, and qualify 
himself for a public character. The great plague in 
London put an end to these studies; the awfulness 
of the visitation, and the sudden summons of death 
to thousands, aroused him, excited afresh his serious 
thoughtfulness, and parental hopes were again threat- 
ened with disappointment. In order to counteract 
this returning gravity, and at the same time to turn 
his stability to good account. Sir W. Penn now 
sent his son to Ireland to superintend his property, 
giving him letters of introduction to his friend the 
Duke of Ormond, who was then the Lord Lieutenant. 
At the Vice-regal Court he became very popular; and 
an insurrection having broken out at Carrickfergus, 
he volunteered to accompany Lord Arran, the Duke's 
son, who was sent to quell it. Distinguishing him- 
self by great courage and coolness, he was invited to 
join the army as a profession — a proposal to which, 
with all the ardour and fickleness of youth, he was 
disposed to accede ; but his father, happily for him 
and for the world, positively refusing his assent, 



8 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

William reluctantly yielded, and retired to take 
charge of his father's estate at Shangarry, having 
also a government appointment at Kinsale. 

But Divine Providence again interposed to change 
the current of his life, and to call him to that sphere 
in v^hich he became so eminent. Being at Cork on 
business, he heard that Thomas Loe, whose preaching 
had interested him at Oxford, was to hold a religious 
meeting in the city that evening. Curiosity, and 
perhaps a higher motive, prompted him to stay and 
attend it, and deep was the impression which he re- 
ceived. After a time of silence, Thomas Loe rose 
with the words, '' There is a faith that overcomes 
the world, and there is a faith that is overcome by 
the world. '^ On this theme, which was peculiarly 
adapted to W. Penn's case, the preacher enlarged, 
carrying conviction to his mind, which had long 
oscillated between love to God on the one hand, 
and love to his father and to the world on the other. 
The conflicts of such a soul were feelingly described, 
and the path of duty was clearly pointed out. He 
could not resist the appeal, his sensations were deep 
and earnest, and from that time he regularly attended 
the meetings of Friends. — His own description of his 
case, from early life down to this period, was thus 
afterwards given to some pious persons in Germany. 
^' Here I let them know how and when the Lord first 
appeared to me, which was about the twelfth year of 
my age; how, at times, betwixt that and the fifteenth, 
he visited me, and the divine impressions he gave me 
of himself; of my persecution at Oxford, and how 



WILLIAM PENN. 9 

he sustained me in the midst of darkness and debau- 
chery ; of my being banished the college, the bitter 
usage I underwent when I returned to my father 3 of 
the Lord's dealings with me in France, and at the 
time of the great plague in London 3 the deep sense 
he gave me of the vanity of this world, and of the 
irreligiousness of the religions of it. Then, of my 
mournful and bitter cries to him, that he would show 
me his own way of life and salvation, and my resolu- 
tions to follow him, whatever reproaches or sufferings 
should attend me, and that with great reverence and 
broken ness of spirit. How, after all this, the glory 
of the world overtook me, and I was even ready to 
give myself up to it; seeing as yet no such thing as 
the primitive spirit and church on the earth. It was 
at this time that the Lord visited me with a certain 
sound and testimony of his eternal word, through one 
of those the world calls Quakers, namely Thomas 
Loe. I related the bitter mockings and scornings 
that fell upon me, the displeasure of my parents, the 
invectives and cruelty of the priests, the strangeness 
of all my companions, what a sign and wonder they 
made of me; but, above all, that great cross of 
watching against and resisting my own vain affections 
and thoughts.'' 

The members of the Society of Friends were at 
that time severely persecuted, especially in Ireland. 
Their meetings for divine worship were often inter- 
rupted by the mob, and sometimes broken up by 
magistrates or soldiers; so that W. Penn had 
no reason to expect that he should escape. At a 



10 B R I E F M E M I R F 

meeting held at Cork, he was apprehended with 
many besides, on the plea of a proclamation against 
tumultuous assemblies, and taken before the mayor; 
but that officer, observing his dress and general ap- 
pearance to be different from those of the others, 
offered him liberty on his giving bond for his good 
behaviour -1- which refusing to do, he was with 
eighteen more committed to prison. While there, he 
addressed a manly appropriate letter to the Earl of 
Orrery, then President of Munster; declaring that 
he had committed no crime, and appealing to the 
Earl's clemency and sense of justice to grant him a 
discharge. In this letter may be seen the germ of 
that noble principle of liberty o.f conscience, which, 
through his remaining years, often and under much 
suffering, he boldly maintained ; and which he was 
at length permitted to see generally recognized. The 
Earl at once ordered his release. 

This imprisonment, far from cooling his zeal, deep- 
ened his sympathy with his new and suffering friends. 
He felt that a great principle was at stake, and he 
was freely willing to bear the reproaches and trials 
which in that age so largely befell them. The report 
that he had become a ^' Quaker" soon reached the 
Vice-regal Court, and also his father, who promptly 
ordered him home. At first the admiral perceived 
nothing peculiar in his dress or manners ; but his 
seriousness increasing, and the usual ceremony of 
taking off the hat being omitted, he became dis- 
satisfied and demanded an explanation. The inter- 
. vitw was deeply touching and painful to both parties. 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 11 

The son avowed his religious principles, and declared 
that as a duty to God he could not renounce them, 
at the same time assuring his father of his strong 
affection, of his respect, and of his sincere desire to 
obey him in every thing that did not conflict with 
his own christian duty. The father, on the other 
hand, expecting a peerage for himself, and having 
set his mind on advancing his son to wealth and 
honour, could not bear to see him forego the dazzling 
prize, and unite with the despised Quakers; which 
seemed to him little less than madness, and likely to 
bring contempt on the whole family.^ He not only 
reasoned with him, but condescended to entreat and 
implore him. The son, who tenderly loved his 
father, was deeply afflicted, but stood firmly to his 
principles. Finding that he could not prevail, the 
admiral desired him once more to uncover his head, 
at least, in the presence of the King, the Duke of 
York, and himself — a request which he promised to 
consider. Trivial and even proper, as this concession 
may appear to some, to William Penn it was no 
trifle. He retired to his chamber, and with fasting 
and prayer sought for divine guidance. 

It was at that time customary to wear the hat in 
the house, even at meals, and to uncover the head 
was a mark of especial reverence. The same homage 
was paid to the Divine Being himself. The early 
Friends felt that all their actions, as well as their 
words, must be sincere and truthful, and that this 
principle of conduct was entirely opposed to the 
shallow politeness and false flattery of the world. 



12 BRIEF ME MOIROP 

Knowing that all men have immortal souls, to be 
saved or lost, that Jesus Christ died equally for all, 
and that his Holy Spirit visits each one, without dis- 
tinction of high or low, rich or poor, they felt that 
all men are essentially equal, from the king on his 
throne to the peasant in his cabin ; and that the ad- 
ventitious circumstances of prosperity or adversity 
are as nothing, in the scale of true merit and honour, 
which depend on obedience or disobedience to the 
law of Grod. They asserted the native dignity and 
equality of every man; and, while anxious to pay 
honour and respect where really due, they felt that 
these did not consist in the complimentary uncover- 
ing of the head, or the insincere use of deferential 
terms, but in plain, true, becoming language, and in 
civil, respectful behaviour. This view of the Chris- 
tian's duty in conducting the intercourse of life 
formed part of their testimony to that simplicity, 
plainness, and truth, which they believed Christianity 
requires. ''How can ye believe," said our Lord, 
''who receive honour one of another, and seek not 
the honour that cometh from God ? Be not ye called 
Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all 
ye are brethren.'' 

William Penn felt strongly the crisis to which he 
was brought; he was now in his twenty-fourth year; 
it seemed like the turning point of his life : this was 
only one matter out of many; and its concession 
would probably lead to further demands ; hence his 
earnest supplication to be favoured with divine direc- 
tion ; that, without regard to worldly considerations, 



W I L L T A M P E N N . lo 

ho might neither yield to unfounded objections on 
the one hand, nor compromise Christian principle on 
the other. The result was that he could feel no 
satisfaction, but in resolving to pursue the course he 
had entered on. At the next interview, therefore, he 
respectfully informed his father that he could not 
yield to the request. The admiral was no longer 
able to restrain his anger; he had tried every ex- 
pedient; all his bright hopes for his son were dashed 
to the ground by his firmness, and he again indig- 
nantly expelled him from the house. 

This was a time of extremity to the young convert. 
Brought up in affluence and dignity, caressed by the 
highest circles in the land, with the path to worldly 
greatness open before him, he had turned his back 
on them all, and incurred both penury and scorn for 
the sake of his religious principles. But, like Moses 
of old, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than the treasures of Egypt. He endured the 
cross with patience and magnanimity, and had peace 
within, which sustained him in firm hope and con- 
fidence. Some of his friends assisted him, his tender- 
hearted mother sent him money occasionally, and at 
length his father relented, though he did not openly 
countenance him. 



14 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER II. 1668-1670. 

BECOMES A MINISTER AND AUTHOR — DISCUSSION WITH VIN- 
CENT WRITES "SANDY FOUNDATION SHAKEN" — COM- 
MITTED TO THE TOWER — WRITES " NO CROSS, NO CROWN," 
AND "INNOCENCY WITH HER OPEN FACE" — DISCHARGED 
AFTER EIGHT MONTHS AND A HALF. 

The Society of Friends, or Quakers, had now ex- 
isted for nearly twenty years, througli a period of 
mucli conflict and severe persecution, which still con- 
tinued. Its Christian doctrines were clearly ascer- 
tained, and laid before the public; a wholesome sys- 
tem of church discipline was established. The ac- 
cession of a conscientious, well educated, and talented 
young man, like William Penn, was of great value 
to it. He became a member from deep conviction, 
and by degrees laid aside his sword, his ornaments, 
and his gay attire. 

Whilst thus approaching that purer standard of 
Christian principle, which soon afterward he openly 
upheld and suffered for, it is related that he met with 
George Fox, and asked his advice respecting the 
wearing of his sword, as he might appear singular 
among Friends in consequence; and that Greorge 
Fox replied, *' I advise thee to T7ear it as long as 
thou canst." Not long after they met again, when 
William Penn had no sword, and George Fox said 
to him, " William, where is thy sword V " Oh,'' 



WILLIAM PENN. 15 

said he, " I have taken thy advice, I wore it as long 
as I could." 

The earnest conviction which thus led to the 
entire abandonment of the vain fashions of the 
"world, drew him soon after, to write to a young ac- 
quaintance, who was captivated by them. In this 
letter, he says, " And canst thou imagine that those 
holy men recorded in Scripture, spent their days, as 
do the gallants of these times ? Where is the self- 
denying life of Jesus, the cross, the reproach, the 
persecution, and loss of all, which He and His 
suffered, and most willingly supported, having their 
eyes fixed upon a more enduring substance. Well, 
my friend, this know, and by these shalt thou be 
judged, and in it I am clear, That as without holiness 
none can see God, so without subjection to that 
Spirit, Light, or Grace in the heart, which God in 
love hath made to appear to all, that teacheth to deny 
all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this present world; I say 
without subjection hereunto, there is no attaining to 
that holiness which will give thee an entrance into 
His presence, in which is joy and pleasure for ever. 
Examine thyself, how remote thou art from the 
guidings and instructions of this Spirit of Grace, who 
canst countenance this age in frequenting- their 
wicked and vain sports, plays and entertainments, 
conforming thyself to ridiculous customs, and making 
one at idle talking and vain jesting, wheresoever 
thou comest, not considering thou shalt account to 
God for every idle word. And let all thy frolicking 



16 B R I E F M E M O I R I' 

associates know, the day is hastening, in which they 
shall not abide the presence of Him that sits upon 
the throne. It shall be a time of horror, amazement 
and distress. Then shall they know there is a right- 
eous, holy Judge of all. As for thee, with pity is 
thy condition often in my thoughts, and often is it 
my desire that thou mayst do well ; but whilst I see 
thee in that spirit, which savours of this world's 
delights, ease, plenty and esteem, neglecting that 
one thing necessary, I have but little hopes. How- 
ever, I could not let this plain admonition pass me; 
and what place soever it may have in thy thoughts, I 
am sure it is in true love to that which shall be 
happy or miserable to all eternity. I have not sought 
fine words or chiming expressions; the gravity, the 
concernment and nature of my subject, admit no 
such butterflies. In short, be advised, my friend, to 
be serious, and to ponder that which belongs to thy 
eternal peace. Retire from the noise and clatter of 
tempting visibles, to the beholding Him who is in- 
visible, that He may reign in thy soul, God over all, 
exalted and blessed for ever. Farewell. 

I am thy well-wishing, real friend, 

William Penn.'^ 

In 1668, a few months after his expulsion from 
the parental home, he came forward, from an appre- 
hension of religious duty, in the important character 
of a minister of the gospel. His qualifications both 
natural and spiritual for this service were of a high 
order. Both in word and writing, he was terse in 



WILLIAM PENN. 17 

expression, ricli in instruction, original and uncom- 
promising in sentiment. He became eminent as a 
minister and an author, and was thus described by 
one of his friends, ^' Sent of Grod to teach others 
what himself had learned, he was rightly called and 
qualified for the work : commissioned from on high 
to preach to others that holy self-denial himself had 
practised; to recommend to all that serenity and 
peace of mind himself had felt; walking in the 
light, to call others out of darkness; having drunk 
of the water of life, to direct others to the same 
fountain ; having tasted of the heavenly bread, to 
invite all men to partake of the same banquet; being 
redeemed by the power of Christ, he was sent to call 
others from under the dominion of Satan into the 
glorious liberty of the sons of God, that they might 
receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among 
them that are sanctified, through faith in Jesus 
Christ. One workman thus qualified," says the same 
author, " is able to do his Master's business far more 
effectually than ten bold intruders, who undertake to 
teach a science themselves never learned.'^ 

Many of William Penn's publications were con- 
troversial, and, in consistence with the character of 
the age, contained strong, severe, and sometimes un- 
guarded expressions; they were therefore more 
adapted to that period than to later times. As an 
independent and a comprehensive thinker, a firm 
champion of religious liberty, breathing forth gene- 
rous, manly, and noble sentiments, chastened by love 
to God and man, most of his writings will stand the 
2* 



18 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

test of inquiry, and several of them cannot fail to be 
valued so long as that which is truly excellent shall 
be appreciated. His early compositions were penned 
with the lively zeal of a new convert. The first 
bears the title of ''Truth exalted/' and in energetic 
terms calls upon princes, priests, and people, to 
examine the grounds of their faith, and to compare 
them with the true Christian standard. His acts 
corresponded with his writings. Going down to 
Whitehall with a few of his friends, he obtained an 
audience of the Duke of Buckingham, and pressed 
on him the necessity of toleration for dissenters, 
pleading their right to far better treatment than the 
indignities they then sufi'ered, appealing to the old 
laws of England, to ancient customs and charters. 
Nor were his reasonings in vain : the duke promised 
to bring a Bill into Parliament to redress the evils 
complained of, but, though he kept his word, the 
Commons rejected the measure. 

A circumstance now occurred, which led to con- 
sequences both important and painful. There lived 
in Spitalfields a Presbyterian minister named Thomas 
Vincent, two of whose hearers being convinced of 
the doctrines held by Friends, forsook their former 
pastor. This exciting his animosity, he traduced the 
Quakers in violent terms, pronouncing their doctrines 
erroneous and damnable, and William Penn a Jesuit. 
Hearing of these charges, William Penn and George 
Whitehead, an eminent minister of the Society, 
went to Vincent, and demanded a public opportunity 
10 clear themselves. After some demur, Vincent 



WILLIAM PENN 19 

appointed a time, but at liis own meeting-liouse ; 
and, to insure a majority, he called his congregation 
together at an earlier hour, and pre-occupied the 
place. When Penn and Whitehead arrived, they 
found Vincent declaiming against them, whereupon 
they required to be heard in their own defence ; but 
Vincent proposed that he should question them, 
which was agreed to by the people, who were mostly 
his own followers. He then began to examine them 
as to their belief in the nature of the Divine Being, 
the Trinity, the doctrines of imputed righteousness 
and of satisfaction for sin, using gross and unscrip- 
tural terms. These being objected to by the Friends, 
and the language of Holy Scripture appealed to, he 
and his audience attempted to put them down with 
accusations of blasphemy and reproach ; and, refusing 
them liberty to explain, he dismissed his people, ex- 
tinguished the candles, and withdrew. Not deterred 
by this unfair treatment, they persisted in the dark 
to address those who remained, till Vincent came 
back and promised them another hearing; a promise 
which, however, he did not fulfil. 

William Penn now resorted to the press to set 
forth his views on the points in question, and in the 
fervour of youthful zeal, against what he believed to 
be error on the one hand, he laid himself open to the 
imputation of error in the opposite direction. " The 
Sandy Foundation shaken,'' was the title of his 
essay : it gave great offence to the bishop of London 
and other theologians of the day, who pronounced it 
heretical. Penn was also anonymously accused of 



20 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

treasonable designs, and the government was prevailed 
on to issue an order for committing him to tho 
Tower. Here his treatment was severe ; he was im- 
mured in a solitary cell ; nor was he permitted to see 
his family or friends, except now and then his father, 
who commiserated and visited him. The bishop 
evidently hoped to awe him into submission, but he 
little knew the character of his captive. One day 
Penn's servant brought him word that it was resolved 
he should either publicly recant, or die in prison. 
He only smiled at the menace, saying, " They are 
mistaken in me ; I value not their threats ; I will 
weary out their malice 3 my prison shall be my grave 
before I will budge a jot, for I owe my conscience to 
no mortal man." 

Prepared patiently and firmly to endure all the 
sufferings that might await him, he now betook him- 
self diligently to writing. His chief work had a 
title suited to his own feelings, and to the experience 
of every true Christian — "No Cross, no Crown." 
It consists of two parts. In the first, he reviews the 
corrupt state of Christendom, shows the necessity of 
daily bearing the cross of Christ, describes its prac- 
tical nature, the duty of self-denial, the evils of 
pride, avarice, and luxury; dividing each into several 
branches, and pleading for simplicity, contentment, 
and a life of faith. In the second part, he quotes 
the testimonies of the greatest men of antiquity 
among the heathen ; of Jesus Christ and his first 
disciples, and of early Christian writers, with the 
dying testimonies of many eminent moderns, in con- 



WILLIAM PEN N. 21 

firmation of the same views. In a preface to a later 
edition, he says, of the way of the cross, ''It is a 
path, God in his everlasting kindness guided my feet 
into, in the flower of my youth, when about two and 
twenty years of age: then he took me by the hand, 
and led me out of the pleasures, vanities, and hopes 
of the world. I have tasted of Christ's judgments, 
and of his mercies, of the world's frowns and re- 
proaches : I rejoice in my experience, and dedicate 
it, [reader,] to thy service in Christ. It is a debt 
I have long owed ; I have now paid it, and delivered 
my soul. To my country, and to the world of (Chris- 
tians I leave it. May God, if he please, make it 
effectual to them all." The "No Cross, no Crown,'' 
was a remarkable work, especially considering the 
circumstances under which it was written. It would 
seem to have required a large library and great re- 
search, and produced an impression highly creditable 
to the writer. It went rapidly through several 
editions, and has often been reprinted in modern 
times. 

From a chapter, entitled " The Serious Testimonies 
of Dying, as well as Living Men,'' we select the 
following examples : 

The first from Bulstrode Whitlock, an associate of 
those great men whom the lords and commons of 
England appointed to treat with King Charles I. for 
peace. ''He was commissioner of the great seal, and 
ambassador to Sweden, a scholar, a lawyer, a states- 
man ; in short, he was one of the most accomplished 
men of the a^e. Beinsr with him sometimes at his 



22 BRIEF MEMOIROF 

own house in Berkshire, where he gave me the 
account of Chancellor Oxenstiern, among many 
serious things he spoke, this was very observable. '^ 

*'I have ever thought," said he, *' there has been 
one true religion in the world ; and that is the work 
of the Spirit of Grod in the hearts and souls of men. 
There have been, indeed, divers forms and shapes of 
things, through the many dispensations of God to 
men, answerable to his own wise ends, in reference to 
the low and uncertain state of man in the world ; 
but the old world had the Spirit of God, for it strove 
with them ; and the new world has had the Spirit 
of God, both Jew and Gentile, and it strives with 
all ; and they that have been led by it, have been the 
good people in every dispensation of God to the 
world. And I, myself, must say, I have felt it from 
a child, to convince me of my evil and vanity; and 
it has often given me a true measure of this poor 
world, and some taste of divine things; and it is my 
grief, I did not more early apply my soul to it. For, 
1 can say, since my retirement from the greatness 
and hurries of the world, I have felt something of 
the work and comfort of it, and that it is both ready 
and able to instruct, and lead, and preserve those 
who will humbly and sincerely hearken to it. So 
that my religion is the good Spirit of God in my 
heart; I mean what that has wrought in me and for 
me.'^ 

After a meeting at his house, to which he gave an 
entire liberty for all that pleased to come, he was so 
deeply affected with the testimony of the light, 



WILLIAM PENN. 23 

spirit, and grace of Christ in man, as the gospel dis- 
pensation, that after the meeting closed in prayer, he 
rose up, and pulled off his hat, and said, '^This is 
the everlasting Gospel I have heard this day; and I 
humbly bless the name of God, that he has let me 
live to see this day, in which the ancient Gospel is 
again preached to them that dwell upon the earth." 

^' Count Oxenstiern, Chancellor of Sweden, was a 
person of the first quality, station, and ability in his 
own country, whose share and success, not only in 
the chief ministry of affairs in that kingdom, but in 
the greatest negotiations of Europe during his time, 
made him no less considerable abroad. After all his 
knowledge and honour, being visited in his retreat 
from public business, by Commissioner Whitlock, 
ambassador to Queen Christina, in the conclusion of 
their discourse, he said to the ambassador, ^ I have 
seen much and enjoyed much of this world, but I 
never knew how to live till now. I thank my God 
that has given me time to know Him and to know 
myself. All the comfort I have, and all the comfort 
I take, and which is more than the whole world can 
give, is feeling the good Spirit of God in my heart, 
and reading in this good book, holding up the Bible, 
that came from it. You are now in the prime of 
your age and vigour, and in great favour and busi- 
ness ; but this will all leave you, and you will one 
day better understand and relish what I say to you; 
and then you will find that there is more wisdom, 
truth, comfort and pleasure, in retiring and turning 
your heart from the world, to the good Spirit of 



24 B R I E F M E M I R P 

God, and in reading the Bible, than in all the favour 
of courts and princes. This I had, as near as I am 
able to remember, from the ambassador's own mouth 
more than once. A very edifying history when we 
consider from whom it came; one of the greatest 
and wisest men of his age ; while his understanding 
was as sound and vigorous, as his experience and 
knowledsce were great." 

" The specious inconveniences that wait 
Upon a life of business and of state, 
He sees, uor doih the sight disturb his rest." 

'^ My own father, after thirty years' employment, 
with good success, in divers places of eminent trust 
and honour in his own country, upon a serious reflec- 
tion not long before his death, spoke to me in this 
manner: ^ Son William, I am weary of the world; 
I would not live my days over again if I could com- 
mand them with a wish ; for the snares of life are 
greater than the fears of death. This troubles me, 
that I have ofl"ended a gracious God, who has followed 
me to this day. have a care of sin ! That is the 
sting both of life aod death. Three things I com- 
mend to you — First : Let nothing in this world tempt 
you to wrong your conscience; 1 charge you do 
nothing against your conscience; so will you keep 
peace at home, which will be a feast to you in the 
day of trouble. Secondly : Whatever you design to 
do, lay it justly, and time it seasonably, for that gives 
security and despatch. Lastly : Be not troubled at 
disappointments; for if they may be recovered do 



WILLIAM PENN. ZD 

it; if they cannot, trouble is vain. If you could 
not have helped it be content ; there is often peace and 
profit in submitting to Providence ; for afflictions 
make wise. If you could have helped it, let not your 
trouble exceed instruction for another time. These 
rules will carry you with firmness and comfort 
throu_o;h this inconstant world.' ^^ 

This excellent treatise is thus concluded : '' Where- 
fore, since we are compassed about with so great a 
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and 
burden, and the sin and vanities, which so easily beset 
us, and with a constant holy patience run our race, 
having our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and 
finisher of our faith, not minding what is behind; 
so shall we be delivered from every snare. No 
temptations shall gain us, no frowns shall scare us 
from Christ's cross and our blessed self-denial : and 
honour, glory, immortality, and a crown of eternal 
life, shall recompense all our sufferings in the end.'' 

" Oh Lord God ! thou lovest holiness, and purity 
is thy delight in the earth. Wherefore, I pray thee, 
make an end of sin and finish transo-ression, and 
bring in thy everlasting righteousness to the souls 
of men, that thy poor creation may be delivered 
from the bondage it groans under, and the earth 
enjoy her Sabbath again : That thy great name may 
be lifted up in all nations, and thy salvation be re- 
nowned to the ends of the world. For thine is the 
kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen." 

By the King's command, Stillingfleet, bishop of 
Worcester, visited William Penn in prison, and 
3 



26 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

reasoned candidly witli liim. After lying there six 
months, and seeing no prospect of a release, he 
wrote to Lord Arlington, the secretary of state, a 
manly forcible remonstrance against his detention, 
and the treatment he suffered. He declares his own 
belief in ^' the eternal deity of Christ,^' protests 
against punishments by the civil power for differences 
of religious opinion, asserts that the understanding 
can be moved only by reason, not by force, appeals to 
the King, and maintains his entire innocence of 
crime. Finding that his views on some of the 
points debated were much misunderstood, he stated 
them more fully and clearly to the public in a short 
but vigorous pamphlet, entitled ^' Innocency with 
her open Face ; presented by way of apology for the 
Sandy Foundation shaken.^' In this piece, while he 
does not retract, he explains and vindicates, the 
soundness of his Christian faith. 

He thus declares his belief, " I sincerely own and 
unfeignedly believe, by virtue of the sound know- 
ledge and experience, received from the gift of that 
holy unction and Divine grace inspired from on high, 
in One holy, just, merciful. Almighty and Eternal 
God, who is the Father of all things; who appeared 
to the holy patriarchs and prophets of old at sundry 
times, and in divers manners ; and in one Lord 
Jesus Christ, the everlasting Wisdom, Divine power, 
true Light, only Saviour and Preserver of all ; the 
same One holy, just, merciful. Almighty and Eternal 
Grod, who, in the fulness of time, took and was 
manifested in the flesh. At which time He preached, 



WILLIAM PENN. 27 

and his disciples after him, the everlasting Gospel 
of repentance, and promise of remission of sins and 
eternal life, to all that heard and obeyed.'^ And 
again, '' Let all know this, that I pretend to know no 
other name, by which remission, atonement, and 
salvation, can be obtained, but Jesus Christ the 
Saviour, who is the wisdom and power of God." 

Soon after it was issued, and probably at the in- 
stance of the Duke of York, he was set at liberty, 
after an imprisonment of eight months and sixteen 
days. 

William Penn had now the satisfaction of once 
more visiting his friend Thomas Loe, whom the Lord 
had made instrumental to convince him. He was 
then on his dying bed, and thus addressed William 
Penn, " Dear heart, bear thy cross. Stand faithful 
for God, and bear thy testimony in thy day and 
generation, and God will give thee an eternal crown 
of glory that shall not be taken from thee. There 
is no other way that shall prosper, than that which 
the holy men of old have walked in, God hath 
brought immortality to light, and life immortal is 
felt. Glory, glory, for He is worthy. Glory be to 
His name for evermore. My heart is full, what 
shall I say ? His love overcomes my heart, my cup 
runs over, my cup runs over. He is come. He has 
appeared, and will appear." To others, he said, 
'' Friends, keep your testimony for God, live with 
Him, and He will live with you." 

Admiral Penn had become involved in trial and 
difficulty through the jealousy of rival commanders, 



28 E R I E F M E M O I R O F 

especially Monk and Rupert, and he was saved from 
ruin only by the personal regard of the King and his 
brother. These trials softened his feelings towards 
his son, and his wish was indirectly conveyed to 
William that he should again take charge of his 
estates in Ireland. This he was not slow to fulfil ; 
and proceeding to Shangarry in the summer of 1669, 
he remained there for some months, maintaining a 
frequent correspondence with his father, and suc- 
cessfully exerting himself to relieve his friends from 
suffering. A sensible decline in his father's health 
at length caused his return to England ; a full recon- 
ciliation took place, and he became a resident in the 
parental mansion. 



WILLIAM PENN. 29 



CHAPTER III. 1670. 

THE CONVENTICLE ACT — MEMORABLE TRIAL OF W. PENN AND W. 
MEAD AT THE OLD BAILEY, WITH THEIR INTREPID DEFENCE. 

In the year 1670, William Penn was again a 
sufferer on account of his religious principles, and 
though the imprisonment to which he was subjected 
did not exceed a month in duration, yet his resolute 
conduct on the trial, in opposition to the tyrannical 
proceedings of the civic authorities, tended greatly 
to confirm his reputation, as a defender of civil and 
religious freedom, and to establish on a more solid 
foundation the liberties of his countrymen. 

The severe Act against conventicles, which had 
been passed six years before, was now on the point 
of expiring, and the public mind was much agitated 
on the question of its renewal. The desire of the 
bishops, together with general apprehensions of the 
secret designs of the Duke of York and the Catholics, 
operated strongly in its favour, and it was but feebly 
opposed by the now crushed spirit of constitutional 
freedom. Though the government wished to except 
Protestant dissenters from its operation, the ecclesi- 
astics, who feared the Puritan as much as the Komish 
influence, would not consent. The Act was conse- 
quently passed, declaring it seditious and unlawful, 
for more than five persons in addition to one family 
to assemble together for divine worship, in any other 
3* 



30 B R T E F M E M I R O F 

way than aceordiDp; to the liturgy. Every person so 
assembling was to be fined five shillings for the first 
ofi"ence, and ten shillings for the second; the preacher 
to forfeit twenty pounds for the first, and forty 
pounds for the second ofience; and the owner of the 
house twenty pounds. Any magistrate refusing to 
act herein to be fined one hundred pounds, and every 
constable five pounds. One third of the fines to go 
to the informer. The Act to be construed most 
largely for the suppression of conventicles, and for 
the encouragement of those employed in its execu- 
tion. Any justice to hear, convict, and levy privately, 
in opposition to the great charter which directed trial 
by jury. 

William Penn soon became an offender under this 
unrighteous law, and it was determined not to deal 
with the case privately, but to make him a public 
example. He and others, going to the meeting- 
house in Gracechurch Street one morning at the 
usual hour, found it closed, and the doors guarded by 
soldiers ; which was the case that day with all dis- 
senters' places of worship, throughout the city. 
After a time, a considerable company being collected, 
he took off his hat, and began to address them in 
the street; on which the constables arrested both 
him and William Mead, a Friend, who was one of 
the hearers, and brought them before the Lord 
Mayor, Sir Samuel Starling, who committed them to 
Newgate; making no secret of his malice against 
William Penn and his father, and of his pleasure at 
having this opportunity to vent it. A full account 



WILLIAM PENN. 31 

of tlie celebrated trial was afterwards drawn up by 
William Penn, and has been often republished; a 
few particulars only can be given here. Not think- 
ing it right passively to submit to illegal treatment, 
as many of his friends had done, he boldly asserted 
the rights of Englishmen^ and succeeded in vindi- 
cating them. 

On the first of the seventh month, (then Septem- 
ber) 1670, the two prisoners were brought to the 
bar of the Old Bailey for trial; and the jury being- 
called over, the indictment was read, which charged 
the prisoners, that with force and arms, they and 
others had met together, unlawfully and tumultuously, 
to the great disturbance of the peace, and to the 
great terror of many of the people. To this they 
pleaded Not guilty in the manner and form stated ; 
and after being kept waiting for five hours, the Gouit 
adjourned. 

Two days after they were again brought into the 
Court, when, on one of the ofiicers taking off their 
hats, the Lord Mayor sternly ordered him to put 
them on again, and the Kecorder fined them forty 
marks each for contempt of the court in wearing 
them. Three witnesses were called, but failed to 
prove the more offensive part of the charge. William 
Penn then said, that he and his friend freely ac- 
knowledged the fact of their meeting together for 
the worship of God ; that they believed it their duty 
to do so, and that all the powers on earth should not 
prevent them from it. Sheriff Brown exclaimed, 



82 B R T E F M E M I R F 

that lie was not there for worshipping Grod, but for 
breaking the law. 

W. Penn. — "I have broken no law, nor am I 
guilty of the indictment. I desire to know on what 
law you prosecute me, and ground the indictment.^' 

The Recorder. — ''On the common law.'^ 

Penn. — " Where is that common law V 

Kecorder. — " You must not think that I can 
run up so many years, and over so many adjudged 
cases, which we call common law, to satisfy your 
curiosity." 

Penn. — " If it be common, it should not be so 
very hard to produce." 

Recorder. — '' Sir, will 3^ou plead to your indict- 
ment V 

Penn. — ^' Shall I plead to an indictment that has 
no foundation in law ? If you decline to produce 
the law, the jury will not be able to bring in their 
verdict." This so exasperated the Recorder, that he 
said, '' You are a saucy fellow : speak to the indict- 
ment." 

Penn. — ''It is my place to speak to matter of 
law. I am arraigned a prisoner; my liberty, which 
is next to life itself, is concerned ; and unless you 
show me and the people the law you ground your in- 
dictment upon, I shall take it for granted your pro- 
ceedings are merely arbitrary." Here several on 
the bench, being much annoyed, bore hard on the 
prisoner to put him down ; but he, undismayed, re- 
tained his calm, yet firm behaviour, neither party re- 
ferring to the late Conventicle Act. 



W I L L I A M P E N N . So 

Recorder. — '^ The question is, whether jou are 
guilty of this indictment." 

Penn. — " No ; the question is, whether this in- 
dictment be legal. It is an imperfect answer, to say 
it is common law, unless we know both where and 
what that is; for where there is no law there is no 
transgression, and that which is not in being, is so 
far from common, that it is no law at all." 

Recorder. — "You are an impertinent fellow. 
Will you teach the Court what law is ? It is lex nan 
scripfa, — that which many have studied thirty or 
forty years to know; and would you have me tell you 
in a moment?" 

Penn. — " If the common law be so hard to be 
understood, it is far from being common : but if the 
Lord Coke in his Institutes be of any consideration, 
he tells us that common law is common right, and 
that common right is the great charter privileges 
confirmed." 

Recorder. — " Sir, you are a troublesome fellow, 
and it is not for the honour of the Court to sufi"er 
you to go on." 

Penn. — " I design no affront to the Court, but to 
be heard in my just plea; and I may plainly tell you 
that if you deny me the oyer of that law, which you 
say I have broken, you do at once deny me an ac- 
knowledged right, and evince to the world your reso- 
lution to sacrifice the privileges of Englishmen to 
your sinister and arbitrary designs." 

The Court were extremely irritated at William 
Penn's spirited behaviour, and the more so because 



34 BRIEF ME RIOIROF 

what he said was so just and reasonable that they 
could not answer him. Ashamed probably to shield 
themselves under the late Conventicle Act, they 
made no reference to it, but, in order to silence him, 
directed that he should be put into the bale-dock, 
while he loudly remonstrated against their arbitrary 
conduct. 

William Mead, being now left alone, showed equal 
firmness, and thus addressed the jury: ^'I stand 
here to answer an indictment which is full of false- 
hoods, charo'ino; me with meetinsr with force and 
arms, unlawfully and tumultuously : whereas I dare 
not make use of arms, but am a peaceable man, and 
therefore William Penu's question was a very proper 
one. You men of the jury, if the Recorder will not 
tell you what makes a riot or an unlawful assembly, 
Coke tells us that a riot is when three or more are 
met together to beat a man, enter forcibly into his 
land,'^ &c. The Recorder then scornfully pulled oif 
his hat, and said, ''I thank you, sir, that you will 
tell me what the law is,'' To which W. Mead re- 
plied, ''Thou mayest put on thy hat, I have never a 
fee for thee now.'' 

MAyo.?^ — " You deserve to have your tongue cut 
out." 

Mead. — '' Thou didst promise me that I should 
have fair liberty to be heard. Why may I not have 
the privileges of an Englishman ?" 

He too was now ordered into the bale-dock, and in 
their absence the Court charged the jury, contrary to 
law and precedent; against which W^illiam Peun 



WILLIAM PENN. 35 

protested from a distance. The prisoners were then 
removed to a loathsome cell in Newgate. 

After an absence of two hours, the jury returned, 
the prisoners were sent for, and a verdict was de- 
livered against William Penn, " Guilty of speaking 
in Gracechurch Street." The Court, dissatisfied with 
this verdict, told the jury they might as well have 
said nothing; and after threats, and attempting in 
vain to extort something more, sent them out again. 
In half an hour they returned, bringing a written 
verdict signed by them all, that they found William 
Penn guilty of speaking or preaching to an assembly 
in Gracechurch Street, and William Mead not guilty. 
This so provoked the Recorder, that he said to the 
jury, '' Gentlemen, you shall not be dismissed till we 
have a verdict the Court can accept, and you shall be 
locked up without meat, drink, fire, or tobacco. We 
will have a verdict, or you shall starve for it.'' 

Penn. — " My jury, who are my judges, ought not 
to be thus menaced : their verdict should be free 
and not compelled. I desire that justice may be 
done me.'' The Court being about to send back the 
jury, William Penn said, ^'The agreement of twelve 
men is a verdict in law, and such a one having been 
given, I require the clerk of the peace to record it at 
his peril." To the jury he said, "You are English- 
men ; mind your privileges, give not away your 
rights." To which some of them replied that they 
never would. 

The trial having excited general interest, the 
Court had been thronged throughout, and was now 



36 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

adjourned till nine the next morning : when the 
jury, being called, brought in the same verdict as 
before. The magistrates were more exasperated than 
ever, and behaved towards them in a most unbe- 
comino- and unconstitutional manner, refusins: to 
accept their verdict of Not guilty for "William Mead. 
William Penn again remonstrated in plain and pointed 
language, but to no good effect, the Court obstinately 
pursuing its arbitrary course, and the Mayor cr^-ing 
out, '^ Stop his mouth, jailor; bring fetters and stake 
him to the ground." To this William Penn an- 
swered, '^Do your pleasure : I matter not your fet- 
ters." The Recorder then acknowledged, "Till now 
I never'knew the policy of the Spaniards, in suffering 
the Inquisition. It will never be well with us till 
something like it be brought into England." The 
jury, though very unwilling, were sent back, and 
kept through another night, without food or other 
accommodation. At seven the next morning, the 
prisoners were again placed at the bar in a crowded 
court, and the jury, who were much worn by long 
detention and fasting, returned each prisoner "Not 
guilty." This verdict gave general satisfaction to 
the people assembled, but was a great mortification 
to the Bench, who were compelled to accept it. 

William Penn and William Mead now demanded 
their liberty, but were fined for alleged contempt of 
court, in not taking off their hats ; and the jury, 
instead of being discharged, were fined forty marks 
each for their pretended obstinacy. Both parties 
were committed to Newgate for non-payment. The 



WILLIAM PENN. 37 

imposition of jSnes on a jury was a daring attack on 
the rights of the subject, and was brought before the 
Court of Common Pleas by Edward Bushel, the most 
resolute of the jurors, when it was argued at length, 
and being pronounced altogether illegal, they were 
liberated. Admiral Penn, then on his death-bed, 
being anxious to see his son once more, is supposed 
to have paid the fines, and the two prisoners also 
were set at liberty. A late writer remarks, '' The 
importance of this extraordinary trial can hardly be 
over-estimated, as a stand taken once for all upon 
the ancient liberties of England, against the encroach- 
ments of those in authority. It established a great 
truth — that unjust laws are powerless, when used 
against an upright people.^' 



38 B R I E F M E M I R r 



CHAPTER lY. 1670-167T. 

DYING ADVICE OF SIR WILLIAM PENN — W. P. TRAVELS AS A 

MINISTER — ACCOUNT OF GULIELMA MARIA SPRINGETT 

AGAIN IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER — VISITS HOLLAND 

MARRIES G. M. SPRINGETT VISITS THE CONTINENT TWICE 

— RELIGIOUS CONVERSE WITH PRINCESS ELIZABETH — RE- 
PEATEDLY ADVOCATES TOLERATION. 

Admiral Penn lived but ten days after liis son's 
release. Thou2;li he had not reached his fiftieth 
year, he had survived many changes, and experienced 
great trials. Many of his last remarks display a true 
knowledge of the world. ^' Son William,'^ said he, 
*' if you and your friends keep to your plain way of 
preaching, and to your plain way of livings you will 
make an end of the priests to the end of the world. 
Live in love, shun all manner of evil ; I pray God to 
bless you, and he will bless you all.'^ He left his 
son a good estate, producing an annual income of 
about fifteen hundred pounds; and sent messages to 
the Kino; and the Duke of York, commendino; him 
to their kind ofiSces; which they readily promised 
and endeavoured to fulfil. 

William Penn now travelled as a minister of the 
gospel, holding considerable meetings, and preaching 
boldly the doctrines he professed. These doctrines, 
and especially that of the universality of Divine light 
or grace, being attacked by a Baptist minister named 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 89 

Tves, in Buckingliamshirej he demanded an opportu- 
nity to vindicate them; and the parties met at 
Wycombe for discussion; but the assailant, as soon 
as he had stated his own arguments, unfairly with- 
drew. The people, however, more candid than their 
pastor, waited to hear the defence^ which was satis- 
factory to most of them. 

On visiting Oxford, William Penn found his friends 
there exposed to severe persecution for their religious 
principles, which struck at the root of the hierarchy; 
and as the yice-Chancellor encouraged these proceed- 
ings, he addressed him in a letter of plain expostu- 
lation and reproof. Taking up his residence at the 
old family seat of Penn, in Buckinghamshire, he 
made the acquaintance of Gulielma Maria Springett, 
a very intelligent and interesting young person, then 
residing with her step-father, Isaac Pennington. 

She was the daughter of Sir William and Mary 
Springett. Her father was a man of noble spirit, and 
conspicuous in the struggle for civil and religious 
liberty in England which resulted in the fall of 
Charles I., and the establishment of the Common- 
wealth. Whilst ardently engaged in this fearful 
contest, he was carried oif by a fatal disease, resulting 
from the exposure incident to the inhuman practice 
of war. In 1642, a few weeks after his death, his 
daughter was born. Her mother, being deeply im- 
bued with the love of Truth, became an earnest 
seeker after it, and withdrew from all participation in 
those worldly pleasures so inconsistent with it. 

Several years afterwards, she met with Isaac Pen- 



40 BRIEFME3I0IR0F 

nington, one, like herself, weary of the delights of 
this world, but seeking the haven of true rest. She 
says, " My love was drawn to him because I found 
he saw the deceit of all notions, and lay as one that 
refused to be comforted/' After their marriage took 
place, they became members of the Societ}^ of Friends. 

Residing at their estate of Chalfont, her daughter 
now approaching womanhood, the family were visited 
by Thomas Ellwood, who had in childhood been her 
playmate in familiar sports. His father and he were 
of the Cavalier sort, free and courtly in their man- 
ners, and, havino; known the Penninstons before 
their connection with Friends, were greatly surprised 
at the change in their demeanor, the seriousness of 
which kept down all light and airy conversation. 

Thomas Ellwood, seeking the company of the 
daughter, says, " I found her gathering some flowers 
in the garden, attended by her maid, who was also a 
Quaker. But when I addressed myself to her, after 
my accustomed manner, with intent to engage her in 
some discourse which might introduce conversation 
on the foot of our former acquaintance, though she 
treated me with a courteous mein, yet, young as she 
was, the gravity of her look and behaviour struck 
such an awe upon me that I found myself not so 
much master of myself as to pursue any further con- 
versation with her ; whereupon, asking pardon for my 
boldness in having intruded myself into her private 
walks, I withdrew, not without some disorder of mind, 
at least as I thou^rht.'' 

Soon after this, Ellwood himself became a Friend, 



WILLIAM PENN. 41 

and residing in this vicinity, was received in near 
intimacy v/itli tlie Penningtons. It is stated that 
Guliehna was sought after by peers and commoners, 
courtiers and Puritans, being, as described by Ell- 
wood, ^'a very desirable woman, whether regard was 
had to her outward person, which wanted nothing to 
render her comely, or to the endowments of her 
mind, which were every way extraordinary and 
highly obliging, or to her outward fortune, which 
was fair.'^ ^' To all, in their respective turns, till 
he at length came for whom she was reserved, she 
carried herself with so much evenness of temper, 
such courteous freedom, guarded with the strictest 
modesty, that, as it gave encouragement or ground 
of hopes to none, so neither did it administer any 
matter of offence or just cause of complaint to any.'' 

A pamphlet of the Roman Catholics falling in the 
way of William Penn, drew his close attention to 
their leading doctrines, and in a tract entitled ''A 
Seasonable Caveat against Popery,'^ he undertook to 
refute them, appealing to the authority of Scripture 
and of the early Christian Church, and clearly showing 
that his own views were entirely at variance with 
theirs. Notwithstanding this, he declared himself 
decidedly opposed to all persecution of Roman 
Catholics or others for their principles, and friendly 
to universal toleration. 

His firm, intrepid conduct, both in asserting 

boldly, by word and writing, what he believed to be 

the truth, and in patiently suffering for it, with his 

earnest denunciations of all persecution and oppres- 
4* 



42 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

sion, had rendered him obnoxious to those in 
authority, and they eagerly sought an opportunity 
to lay hold of him. Spies and informers, then so 
often employed, were set to watch and report his 
movements, and word being one day brought to Sir 
J. Robinson, that he was to be at a meeting at 
"Wheeler Street the next morning, a sergeant and 
soldiers were sent to the place, and as soon as he 
stood up to preach, they pulled him down and de- 
livered him to a constable, who conveyed him to the 
Tower. Here he was examined in the evening by 
several of those who had sat in judgment upon him 
only a few months before; Sir J. Robinson, pre- 
tending at first not to know him, then to feel great 
regard and pity for him, and afterwards accusing 
him with stirring up sedition, but when questioned, 
totally unable to prove it. In the course of the 
examination, Robinson again charged AVilliam Pena 
with being as bad as other folks, abroad and at home 
too; when he replied, ''I make this bold challenge 
to all men, women, and children upon earth, justly 
to accuse me of ever having seen me drunk, heard 
me swear, utter a curse, or speak one obscene word, — 
much less that I ever made it my practice. Thy 
words shall be thy burden, and I trample thy slander 
under my feet.'^ To another taunting remark of 
Robinson's, he replied, "I would have thee, and all 
other men to know, that I scorn that religion which 
is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain those 
that are afflicted for it ; mine is, and whatever may 
be my lot for my constant profession of it, 1 am no 



\V I L L I A M P E N N . 43 

ways careful, but resigned to answer the will of God 
by the loss of goods, liberty and life itself. "When 
you have all, you can have no more ; and then, per- 
haps, you will be contented, and by that you will be 
better informed of our innocency. Thy religion per- 
secutes, mine forgives ; and I desire my Grod to 
forgive you all that are concerned in my commit- 
ment, and I leave you all in perfect charity, wishing 
your everlasting salvation/^ The scene ended with 
their tendering him as before the oath of allegiance, 
which refusing to take, he was sent to Newgate again 
for six months. This was his second committal 
thither within four months; and Kobinson even 
threatened to pull down the meeting-house j but the 
law placed it out of his power. 

During this imprisonment, William Penn, as usual 
with him, was not idle. In a noisome, pestilential 
gaol, crowded with many of his friends, among felons 
and other criminals — a situation especially painful 
to a man of his refined feelings and habits, he pro- 
duced several important treatises, chiefly in defence 
of liberty of conscience. 

He and other prisoners also addressed, in a dig- 
nified and temperate style, the High Court of Parlia- 
ment, which was then contemplating a more rigorous 
enforcement of the Act against conventicles, in 
opposition to a declaration of indulgence to tender 
consciences lately issued by the King, on his own 
authority. 

The term of this imprisonment expiring, he re- 
sumed his religious labours in different parts; 



44 B R I E F INI E M I R P 

extendino; tliem into Holland and Germany, wliere 
he met with many spiritually-minded persons. 

Early in 1672, when in his twenty-eighth year, 
he married Gulielma Maria Springett, and settled at 
Kickmansworth in Hertfordshire, under circumstances 
of great comfort. Occasionally, he travelled as a 
minister, accompanied by his wife j and seldom was 
his pen without occupation, in vindicating the re- 
ligious principles of the Society against assailants. 
He also went to Whitehall to plead with the Court 
on behalf of George Fox, then a prisoner. Most 
of the principal religious men of that time were 
intolerant of others : William Penn, therefore, ap- 
peared in a novel character, by advocating both 
religion and toleration, which he did with much ability 
and force, in a treatise entitled " England's present v 
interest considered." 

33elieving it his duty again to visit the continent, 
he proceeded in 1677 to Holland, in company with 
G. Fox, R. Barclay, and others; their object being 
to communicate " with moyj seeking persons," and 
to encourage them to more full dedication of heart 
to the Lord. They held religious meetings at Rot- 
terdam, Haarlem, Amsterdam, &c., and organized a 
system of Church discipline for the small body of 
Friends in that country. In consequence of com- 
plaints which reached them of the sufferings of 
Friends of Dantzic, William Penn addressed a spirited 
letter on their behalf to John Sobieski, King of Po- 
land, concluding with a saying o^ his predecessor 
Stephen, ^^I am king of men, not of consciences; 



WILLIAM PENN. 45 

king of bodies, not of souls/' In this letter, wliere 
he relates the most fundamental principles surely 
believed by Friends, we find this confession : ^' We 
do believe in the birth, life, doctrines, miracles, 
death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ 
our Lord ; and that he laid down his life for the 
ungodly, not to continue so, but that they should 
deny their wickedness and ungodliness, and live 
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, 
as the saints of old did, who were redeemed from the 
earth, and sat in heavenly places/' Prosecuting 
their journey, they held interesting conferences and 
distributed tracts on religious subjects from place to 
place. 

At Herwerden they visited the Princess Elizabeth, 
daughter of the King of Bohemia, and grand- 
'• daughter of James I., an illustrious and pious lady, 
with whom W. Penn had before corresponded. The 
visit, which was of a religious nature, proved to be a 
memorable one; the princess and her friend, the 
Countess De Homes, receiving them with expressions 
of great kindness and openness. 

Their first meeting having been held to satisfac- 
tion, a second interview with the family took place 
at the palace in the afternoon, and continued for five 
hours. ''It was at this meeting" says W. Penn, 
*' that the Lord in a more eminent manner beiran to 
appear. The eternal word showed itself a hammer 
that day — yea, sharper than a two-edged sword, 
dividing asunder between the soul and the spirit, the 
joints and the marrow. With hearts filled with holy 



46 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

tlianksoivinsfs to tlie Lord for his abundant mercy 
and goodness to us, we departed to our lodging." 
The next morning, at the suggestion of the Countess, 
a meeting was held for the inferior servants, at 
which " the same blessed power that had appeared, 
to visit them of high, visited them also of low 
degree." In the afternoon, the Princess and Countess 
reminded W. Penn of a promise he had made, to 
give them an account of his first convincement, and 
of the trials and consolations he had experienced in 
his religious course. After some pause he began his 
narrative, an extract from which has already been 
given, and which, being delivered with deep feeling, 
much affected the company, and was listened to 
throusrhout with earnest attention. The next after- 
noon another meeting for worship was held at the 
palace, several inhabitants of the town being invited ; 
and the power of Divine Grace was again eminently 
manifested. At the close the Princess took William 
Penn by the hand, and endeavoured to express the 
sense she had of the presence and j^ower of God, but 
could not proceed; and turning aside, she sobbed, 
saying, " I cannot speak to you, my heart is full." 

At Cassel also ''many received them tenderly and 
lovingly," among whom was one " Dureus, aged 
seventy-seven, who had forsaken his learning and 
school-divinity for the teachings of the Holy Spirit." 
Various other spiritual persons they met with in 
different classes of society, with whom they had 
serious intercourse ; their concern being to call them 
to the substance and life of religion in the soul. 



WILLIAM PENN. 47 

Meetings were held in other cities of Germany and 
were well attended. The Somerdykes, A. M. Schur- 
man — a learned and pious lady, the Graef of Donau, 
a young Countess, and other seeking persons, were 
objects of their lively interest; and it seems to have 
been a time of great awakening in those parts. In 
this journey William Penn spent upwards of three 
months, and travelled nearly three thousand miles : 
it is the only portion of his religious labours of which 
he left a written narrative. 

England was now disquieted with fears and pre- 
tended plots of the Roman Catholics : laws and oaths 
were made against them, and fell with severity on 
Friends, who declined to obey an unjust law, or to 
take an oath of any kind. William Penn twice 
attended Committees of the House of Commons, and 
represented the difficulties and cruelties under which 
his friends suffered ; urging the duty of repealing all 
persecuting enactments on account of religion, 
where the public peace was not disturbed. 

In written addresses to the government and the 
public, he repeatedly advocated the same great prin- 
ciples : which also induced him to use active exertions 
on two occasions to promote the return of his friend 
Algernon Sidney to Parliament. But the adverso 
influence of the Crown prevented his success. 



BRIEF jNIEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER Y. 1675-1685. 

HI3 CONNECTION WITH AMERICA IS TRUSTEE FOE. NEW 

JERSEY OBTAINS A GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA — ESTAB- 
LISHES FULL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY THERE LETTER TO HIS 

•WIFE AND CHILDREN — VISITS THE COLONY — TREATY "WITH 
THE INDIANS RETURNS AFTER TWO YEARS, 

William Penn must now be viewed in a new 
and very interesting character. From his early 
youth, he had been accustomed to hear from his 
father striking accounts of the other hemisphere. 
In his travels into Holland he had met with perse- 
cuted families, some of whose members had found 
peaceful shelter on American shores. Many English 
Puritans had sought refuge in the same wilderness 
land from harassing oppressors; and not a few of 
the Society of Friends, having followed their example, 
had already established general or yearly meetings on 
Rhode Island and in Maryland. 

In 1675, he was called in as an arbitrator, to 
settle a difference between two of his friends, re- 
specting a tract of land then called New Jersey, 
and he soon became a chief trustee and manager for 
the western part of that colony. Removing his own 
residence for the sake of greater retirement to Wor- 
minghurst in Surrey, he drew up a constitution for 
the infant colony, framed in the most liberal spirit. 
Commissioners and emigrants, most of whom were 



WILLIAMPENN, 49 

Friends, went out, purchased the land of the 
Indians, and founded their little state on Christian 
principles. The part which he took in its affairs in- 
creased his strong interest in the new world, and 
made him long to found a refuge there, on a more 
extended scale, for the conscientious and persecuted. 

"When Admiral Penn died, he had large claims on 
the Government, chiefly for money lent, and these 
claims had increased in 1680, by the accumulation 
of interest, to upwards of £16,000. In considera- 
tion of this debt, the son petitioned the Privy Coun- 
cil, that the King, by letters patent, would confer on 
himself and his heirs, a tract of unoccupied crown 
land, adjoining Maryland and New Jersey, which he 
offered to accept in discharge of the obligation. He 
had more than one object in soliciting this grant. 
It would not only acquit his demand on the Govern- 
ment, but enable him to carry out designs which he 
had long fondly cherished; to provide a peaceful 
asylum for his persecuted brethren, as well as for the 
good and oppressed of every nation ; to found a new 
empire on the pure and peaceable principles of 
Christianity; and so to conciliate the untutored 
savage by just and lenient measures, as to prepare 
him to receive the truths of the gospel. This '' holy 
experiment'' was warmly entered into by his manly 
generous mind, wearied with the pride, the selfish- 
ness, and cruelty of the old world. 

His petition was referred to a Committee of the 
Privy Council, but strongly opposed by private 
interest and political bigotry. It was deemed an 
5 



50 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

Utopian scheme, likely, if countenanced, to prove an 
encouragement to the discontented, and dangerous to 
existing governments. After much difficulty and 
delay, however, the King acceded to his request, 
and in 1681 executed the patent, naming the new 
colony Pennsylvania, in honour of Admiral Penn. 

The tract granted him was nearly 300 miles long 
and 160 broad, containing a surface little less than 
that of England. The entire region consisted either 
of dense forests or extensive pastures, where the 
native Indian reposed in safety, or roamed and 
hunted at pleasure : the river Delaware forming an 
excellent outlet to the sea. 

The obtaining of this grant may be said to have 
been the great event of William Penn's life. From 
a despised and persecuted individual he became the 
sovereign of a little empire ; and happily it was his 
chief desire to rule it in the fear of the Lord, for his 
glory, and for the good of the people. Many Euro- 
pean settlers had acted with great injustice and 
cruelty towards the aboriginal inhabitants; taking 
possession of their lands without making them com- 
pensation, and treating them like wild beasts rather 
than as men. William Penn, on the contrary, 
though the King had made him a grant of the land, 
still considered the Indians as its proprietors, and 
purchased it of them on liberal terms : undertaking 
that all differences between his people and them 
should be referred to six white men and six Indians 
for settlement. This just course of procedure gave 
them entire satisfaction. 



WILLIAM PENN. 51 

Some have been under the impression that the 
land of the Indians was obtained by William Penn, 
under the mere semblance of a jDurchase. That he 
gave no equivalent for the land. But it was stated, 
in evidence, before a Committee of the House of 
Commons, by Thomas Hodgekin,* that William 
Penn appears to have given about £20,000 to the 
Indians, and that they rapidly increased their price 
for land, until as early as 1682, two miles could not 
be obtained for what would at first purchase twenty. 
And this was at a time when land was valued so low 
that large tracts were given away by William Penn^ 
who it was weU known, so far from being enriched, 
was impoverished by his province. This he feelingly 
alludes to in an address to his friends in Pennsyl- 
vania, dated 4th mo., 29th, 1710, where he says, 
^'And I cannot but think it hard measure, that 
while that has proved a land of freedom and fi.ourish- 
ing, it should become to me by whose means it was 
principally made a country, the cause of grief, 
trouble and poverty.^^ 

That the advancement of the cause of universal 
righteousness, of peace on earth, and good will to 
men, was from the first his object in the ' Hi oly ex- 
periment," is forcibly set forth in the following 
letter : — 

'' My old friend, ^^^=i^*=f^*=i^***>f<* 
" I could speak largely of God's dealings with me 
in getting this thing. What an inward exercise of 

* North American Indians and Friends, p. 75. 



52 E R I E F M E M I R f- 

faith and patience it cost me in passing. The travail 
was mine, as well as the debt and cost, through the 
envy of many, both professors, false friends and pro- 
fane. My God hath given it me in the face of the 
world, and it is to hold it in true judgment, as a re- 
ward of my sufferings, and that is seen here, what- 
ever some despisers may say or think. The place 
God hath given me, and I never felt judgment for 
the power I kept, but trouble for what I parted 
with. It is more than a worldly title or patent, that 
hath clothed me in this place. — Keep thy place : I 
am in mine, and have served the God of the whole 
earth, since I have been in it; nor am I sitting 
down in a greatness, that I have denied. I am day 
and night spending my life, my time, my money, and 
am not six-pence enriched by this greatness. Costs 
in getting, settling, transportation, and maintenance, 
now in a public manner at my own charge duly con- 
sidered ; to say nothing of my hazard, and the dis- 
tance I am at from a considerable estate, and which 
is more, my dear wife and poor children. 

''Well, — the Lord is a God of righteous judg- 
ment. Had I sought greatness, I had stayed at 
home, where the difference between what I am here, 
and was offered and could have been there, in power 
and wealth, is as wide as the places are. No, I came 
for the Lord's sake, and therefore have I stood to 
this day, well and diligent, and successful, blessed be 
his power. Nor shall I trouble myself to tell thee 
what I am to the people of this place, in travails, 
watchings, spendings, and my services every way, 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 53 

freely, (not like a selfish man) I have many witnesses. 
To conclude, it is now in Friends' hands. Through 
my travail, faith and patience it came. If Friends 
here keep to God, and in the justice, mercy, equity 
and fear of the Lord, their enemies will be their 
footstool. If not, their heirs and my heirs too will 
lose all, and desolation will follow; but blessed be 
the Lord, we are well and live in the dear love of 
God, and the fellowship of his tender heavenly 
Spirit, and our faith is for ourselves and one another, 
that the Lord will be with us a King, and a Coun- 
sellor for ever. 

Thy ancient, though grieved friend, 
William Penn.'' 

Chester, 5th of the Twelfth 
Month, 1G82. 

Abundant opportunity was soon offered for en- 
riching: himself from the o;rant of the kin":, as is 
plainly shown by the following testimony : 

James Claypole, who became largely interested in 
the colony says, in a letter, " William Penn does not 
intend starting for Pennsylvania till next spring, and 
then it is like there will be many people ready to go 
from England, Scotland, and Ireland. He is offered 
great things; £6000 for a monopoly in trade which 
he refused, and for islands and particular places great 
sums of money; but he designs to do things equally 
between all parties, and I believe truly does aim more 
5* 



54 BRIEF ]me:moirof 

at justice and righteousness, and spreading of truth, 
than at his own particular gain." * 

William Penn, in a letter to Robert Turner, 
alludes to the offer of £6000 as a great temptation, 
but says, " as the Lord had given him the province 
over all and great opposition, and that, as his mind 
was not so exercised to the Lord about any outward 
substance, he would not abuse his love, nor act un- 
worthy of his providence, and so defile what came to 
him clean.'' " No," he goes on to say, '^ let the 
Lord guide me by his wisdom, and preserve me to 
honour His name, and serve His truth and people, 
that an example and standard may be set up to the 
nations." 

The outline of his form of government, among 
many other excellent declarations, contains the 
following : " In reverence to God, the Father of 
light and spirits, I do for me and mine declare and 
establish, for the first fundamental of the government 
of my province, that every person residing therein 
shall enjoy the free profession of his or her faith and 
worship towards God, in such manner as every such 
person shall in conscience believe is most acceptable 
to Him. And so long as every such person useth 
not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the de- 
struction of others, viz., to speak loosely or con- 
temptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, or 
religion, or commit any moral evil or injury against 
others in their conversation, he or she shall be pro- 

* Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania, p. 522. 



\V I L L I A M P E N N . 55 

tected in tlie enjoyment of the aforesaid Cliristian 
liberty, by the civil magistrate/' 

The constitution which he himself prepared for the 
province, was admirable, and exceeded all the others 
■which had been adopted in the American colonies. 
The celebrated John Locke, at the request of Lord 
Shaftesbury, drew up a form of government for 
Carolina; but it proved defective, and he had the 
candour to acknowledge the superiority of that of 
Pennsylvania. 

While William Penn was busily engaged in pre- 
paring for the voyage to his new colony, his excellent 
mother died, — an event which deeply affected his 
feelimrs. 

A deputy governor and three commissioners had 
already gone out to make the proper arrangements; 
several cargoes of emigrants and stores had been de- 
spatched ; the colony had become popular; and early 
in 1682 the proprietor himself embarked, with about 
one hundred settlers, mostly his neighbours and 
friends, in the ship '' Welcome/' of three hundred 
tons burthen. 

Before pursuing the account of the voyage, it may 
be proper to notice some of his late engagements at 
home. A few members of the Society of Friends, 
under pretence of a higher spirituality, and greater 
freedom from the limitations of their fellow men, 
had separated from the body, and endeavoured to 
draw others after them. They objected to the re- 
straint of Church government, as an imposition upon 
conscience and an interference with Divine guidance. 



56 BRIEF ME MO IR OF 

William Penn treated the subject clearly and forcibly, 
in a tract, entitled '^A Brief Examination of Liberty 
Spiritual ;^' as his friend 11. Barclay had done before, 
in an excellent piece, called ''Anarchy and Hierarchy 
equally refused and refuted/^ In 1681 William 
Penn was elected a member of the Boyal Society 
then lately established ; from the scientific labours 
of "which he anticipated good moral as well as scien- 
tific results. The Friends of Bristol being subjected 
to severe persecution and great outrages, in attending 
their religious meetings, he appealed to the King 
and Parliament in their favour, and wrote them a 
kind, encouraging epistle. One of his last e0"usions 
at that time was the following memorable letter, full 
of tender affection and Christian advice, which he 
addressed to his wife and children before quitting 
England : — 

" My dear wife and children, 

" My love, which neither sea nor land, nor death 
itself, can extinguish or lessen toward you, most en- 
dearly visits you with eternal embraces, and will 
abide with you for ever : and may the God of my life 
watch over you and bless you, and do you good in 
this world and for ever ! — Some things are upon my 
spirit to leave with you in your respective capacities, 
as I am to the one a husband, and to the rest a 
father, if I should never see you more in this world. 

''My dear wife, remember thou wast the love of 
my youth, and much the joy of my life; the most 
beloved, as well as most worthy of all my earthly 



WILLIAM PENN. 57 

comforts : and the reason of that love was more thy 
inward than thy outward excellencies, which yet 
were many. God knows, and thou knowest it, I can 
say it was a match of Providence's making; and 
God's image in us both was the first thing, and the 
most amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes. 
Now I am to leave thee, and that without knowing 
whether I shall ever see thee more in this world, take 
my counsel into thy bosom, and let it dwell with thee 
in my stead while thou livest. 

'' First : Let the fear of the Lord and a zeal and 
love to his glory dwell richly in thy heart ; and thou 
wilt watch for good over thyself and thy dear chil- 
dren and family, that no rude, light or bad thing be 
committed : else God will be offended, and he will 
repent himself of the good he intends thee and 
thine. 

" Secondly : Be diligent in meetings for worship 
and business; stir up thyself and others herein ; it is 
thy duty and place : and let meetings be kept once a 
day in the family to wait upon the Lord, who has 
given us much time for ourselves. And my dearest, 
to make thy family matters easy to thee, divide thy 
time and be regular; it is easy and sweet : thy retire- 
ment will afford thee to do it; as in the morning to 
view the business of the house, and fix it as thou 
desirest, seeing all be in order ; that by thy counsel 
all may move, and to thee render an account every 
evening. The time for work, for walking, for meals, 
may be certain, at least as near as may be : and 
grieve not thyself with careless servants; they will 



58 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

disorder thee : rather pay them, and let them go, if 
they will not be better by admonitions : this is best 
to avoid many words, which I know wound the 
soul and oifend the Lord. 

" Thirdly : Cast up thy income, and see what it 
daily amounts to ; by which thou mayest be sure to 
have it in thy sight and power to keep within com- 
pass : and I beseech thee to live low and sparingly, 
till my debts are paid ; and then enlarge as thou 
seest it convenient. Remember thy mother's exam- 
ple, when thy father's public-spiritedness had worsted 
his estate, which is my case. I know thou lovest 
plain things, and art averse to the pomps of the 
world; a nobility natural to thee. I write not as 
doubtful, but to quicken thee, for my sake, to be 
vigilant herein; knowing that God will bless thy 
care, and thy poor children and thee for it. My 
mind is wrapt up in a saying of thy father's, ' I desire 
not riches, but to owe nothing;' and truly that is 
wealth, and more than enough to live, is a snare at- 
tended with many sorrows. I need not bid thee be 
humble, for thou art so; nor meek and patient, for 
it is much of thy natural disposition : but I pray 
thee be oft in retirement with the Lord, and guard 
against encroaching friendships. Keep them at 
arm's end ; for it is giving away our power, aye, and 
self too, into the possession of another; and that 
which might seem engaging in the beginning, may 
prove a yoke and burden too hard and heavy in the 
end. AVherefore keep dominion over thyself, and 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 59 

let thy children, good meetings and Friends, be the 
pleasure of thy life. 

^'Fourthly: And now, my dearest, let me recom- 
mend to thy care my dear children ; abundantly 
beloved of mo, as the Lord's blessings, and the sweet 
pledges of our mutual and endeared affection. Above 
all things endeavour to breed them up in the love of 
virtue, and that ho\j plain way of it which we have 
lived in, that the world in no part of it get into my 
family. I had rather they were homely than finely 
bred as to outward behaviour; yet I love sweetness 
mixed with gravity, and cheerfulness tempered with 
sobriety. Religion in the heart leads into this true 
civility, teaching men and women to be mild and 
courteous in their behaviour, an accomplishment 
worthy indeed of praise. 

" Fifthly : Next breed them up in a love one of 
another : tell them it is the charge I left behind me : 
and that it is the way to have the love and blessings 
of God upon them ; also what his portion is, who 
hates, or calls his brother fool. Sometimes separate 
them, but not long; and allow them to send and 
give each other small things to endear one another 
with. Once more I say, tell them it was my counsel 
they should be tender and affectionate one to another. 
For their learning be liberal. Spare no cost ; for by 
such parsimony all is lost that is saved : but let it be 
useful knowledge, such as is consistent with Truth 
and godliness, not cherishing a vain conversation or 
idle mind ; but ingenuity mixed with industry is 
good for the body and mind too. I recommend the 



60 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

useful parts of mathematics, as building houses or 
ships, measuring, surveying, dialling, navigation; 
but agriculture is especially in my eye : let my 
children be husbandmen and house-wives ; it is in- 
dustrious, healthy, honest and of good example : like 
Abraham and the holy ancients, who pleased God 
and obtained a good report. This leads to consider 
the works of God and nature, of things that are 
good, and diverts the mind from being taken up 
with the vain arts and inventions of a luxurious 
world. It is commendable in the princes of Ger- 
many and the nobles of that empire, that they have 
all their children instructed in some useful occupa- 
tion. Rather keep an ingenious person in the house 
to teach them, than send them to schools, too many 
evil impressions being commonly received there. 
Be sure to observe their genius, and do not cross it 
as to learning : let them not dwell too long on one 
thing ; but let their change be agreeable, and all their 
diversions have some little bodily labour in them. 
When grown big, have most care for them ; for then 
there are more snares both within and without. 
When marriageable, see that they have worthy per- 
sons in their eye, of good life, and good fame for 
piety and understanding. I need no wealth, but 
sufficieucy ; and be sure their love be dear, fervent 
and mutual, that it may be happy for them. I 
choose not they should be married to earthly, covetous 
kindred. And of cities and towns of concourse 
beware ; the world is apt to stick close to those who 
have lived and got wealth there : a country life and 



WILLIAM PENN. 61 

estate I like best for my children. I prefer a decent 
niaosion, of an hundred pounds per annum, before 
ten thousand pounds in London, or such like place, 
in a way of trade. In fine, my dear, endeavour to 
breed them dutiful to the Lord, and his blessed 
light, truth and grace in their hearts, who is their 
Creator, and his fear will grow up with them. 
Teach a child, says the wise man, the way thou wilt 
have him to walk, and when he is old he will not 
forget it. Next, obedience to thee, their dear 
mother; and that not for wrath, but for conscience- 
sake ] liberal to the poor, pitiful to the miserable, 
humble and kind to all ; and may my God make 
thee a blessing, and give thee comfort in our dear 
children; and in age gather thee to the joy and 
blessedness of the just, where no death shall separate 
us, for ever 1 

"And now, my dear children, that are the gifts 
and mercies of the God of your tender father, hear 
my counsel, and lay it up in your hearts ; love it 
more than treasure, and follow it, and you shall be 
blessed here, and happy hereafter. 

" In the first place, remember your Creator in the 
days of your youth. It was the glory of Israel in 
the second of Jeremiah : and how did God bless 
Josiah because he feared him in his youth ! and so 
he did Jacob, Joseph and Moses. my dear 
children, remember, and fear and serve Him who 
made you and gave you to me and your dear mother; 
that you may live to him and glorify him in your 
generations ! 
G 



62 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

'' To do this, in your youthful days seek after the 
Lord, that you may find him ; remembering his great 
love in creating you ; that you are not beasts, plants 
or stones, but that he has kept you, and given you 
his grace within, and substance without, and provided 
plentifully for you. This remember in 3^our youth, 
that you may be kept from the evil of the world : for 
in age it will be harder to overcome the temptations 
of it. 

" Wherefore, my dear children, eschew the ap- 
pearance of evil, and love and cleave to that in your 
hearts which shows you evil from good, and tells you 
when you do amiss, and reproves you for it. It is 
the light of Christ that he has given you for your 
salvation. If you do this and follow my counsel, 
God will bless you in this world, and give you an in- 
heritance in that which shall never have an end. 
For the light of Jesus is of a purifying nature ; it 
seasons those who love it and take heed to it ; and 
never leaves such, till it has brought them to the 
city of God, that has foundations. that ye may be 
seasoned with the gracious nature of it ! hide it in 
your hearts, and flee, my dear children, from all 
youthful lusts ; the vain sports, pastimes and pleasures 
of the world ; redeeming the time, because the days 
are evil I — You are now beginning to live — what 
would some give for your time ? Oh ! I could have 
lived better, were I, as you, in the flower of youth. 
Therefore love and fear the Lord, keep close to 
meetinfrs, and delis-ht to wait on the Lord God of 
your father and mother, among his despi{?ed people, 



WILLIAM PENN. 63 

as we have clone ; and count it your honour to be 
members of that Society, and heirs of that living 
fellowship which is enjoyed among them, for the ex- 
perience of which your father's soul blesseth the 
Lord for ever. 

" Next : be obedient to your dear mother, a 
woman whose virtue and good name is an honour to 
you ; for she hath been exceeded by none in her time 
for her plainness, integrity, industry, humanity, 
virtue and good understanding; qualities not usual 
among women of her worldly condition and quality. 
Therefore, honour and obey her, my dear children, 
as your mother, and your father's love and delight; 
nay love her too, for she loved your father with a 
deep and upright love, choosing him before all her 
many suitors : and though she be of a delicate con- 
stitution and noble spirit, yet she descended to the 
utmost tenderness and care for you, performing the 
painfulest acts of service to you in your infancy, as 
a mother and a nurse too. I charge you, before the 
Lord, honour and obey, love and cherish your dear 
mother. 

*' Next : betake yourselves to some honest, indus- 
trious course of life, and that not of sordid covetous- 
ness, but for example and to avoid idleness. And 
if you change your condition and marry, choose, 
with the knowledge and consent of your mother if 
living, or of guardians, or those that have the charge 
of you. Mind neither beauty nor riches, but the 
fear of the Lord, and a sweet and amiable disposi- 
tion, such as you can love above all this world, and 



64 BRIEF ]\IEMOIROF 

that may make your habitations pleasant and desirable 
to you. 

'^ And being married, be tender, affectionate, 
patient and meek. Live in the fear of the Lord, 
and he will bless you and your offspring. Be sure to 
live within compass ; borrow not, neither be be- 
holden to any. Ruin not yourselves by kindness to 
others ; for that exceeds the due bounds of friend- 
ship, neither will a true friend expect it. Small 
matters I heed not, 

" Let your industry and parsimony go no further 
than for a sufficiency for life, and to make a provision 
for your children, and that in moderation, if the 
Lord gives you any. I charge you help the poor 
and needy ; let the Lord have a voluntary share of 
your income for the good of the poor, both in our 
Society and others^ for we are all his creatures; 
remembering that ' he that giveth to the poor lendeth 
to the Lord.' 

'' Know well your in-comings, and your out-goings 
may be better regulated. Love not money nor the 
world : use them only, and they will serve you ; but 
if you love them you serve them, which will debase 
your spirits as well as offend the Lord. 

^' Pity the distressed, and hold out a hand of help 
to them ; it may be your case j and as you mete to 
others God will mete to you again. 

^^Be humble and gentle in your conversation; of 
few words, I charge you ; but always pertinent when 
you speak, hearing out before you attempt to answo-v, 



WILLIAM PEN N. 65 

and then speaking as if you would persuade, not 
impose. 

'^Affront none, neither revenge the affronts that 
are done to you ; but forgive, and you shall be for- 
given of your Heavenly Father. 

" In making friends consider well first; and when 
you are fixed be true, not wavering by reports nor 
deserting in afiliction, for that becomes not the good 
and virtuous. 

" Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in 
it; for, like drunkenness, it makes a man a beast, 
and throws people into desperate inconveniences. 

"Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise; 
their praise is costly, designing to get by those they 
bespeak; they are the worst of creatures; they lie to 
flatter, and flatter to cheat; and which is worse, if 
you believe them you cheat yourselves most danger- 
ously. But the virtuous, though poor, love, cherish 
and prefer. Remember David, who asking the 
Lord, ' \Vho shall abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall 
dwell upon thy holy hill ?' answers, ' He that walketh 
uprightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh the 
truth in his heart ; in whose eyes the vile person is 
contemned, but honoureth them that fear the Lord.' 

"Next, my children, be temperate in all things; 
in your diet, for that is physic by prevention ; it 
keeps, nay, it makes people healthy, and their gene- 
ration sound. This is exclusive of the spiritual ad- 
vantage it brings. Be also plain in your apparel; 
keep out that lust which reigns too much over some ; 
let your virtues be your ornaments, remembering life 
6* 



66 B R T E F M E M I R F 

is more than food, and the body than raiment. Let 
your furniture be simple and cheap. Avoid pride, 
avarice and luxury. Read my ' No Cross, no Crown.' 
There is instruction. Make your conversation with 
the most eminent for wisdom and piety j and shun 
all wicked men as you hope for the blessing of God 
and the comfort of your father's living and dying 
prayers. Be sure you speak no evil of any, no, not 
of the meanest ; much less of your superiors, as 
magistrates, guardians, tutors, teachers and elders in 
Christ. 

^' Be no busy-bodies ; meddle not with other folks' 
matters, but when in conscience and duty prest ; for 
it procures trouble, and is ill manners, and very un- 
seemly to wise men. 

"In your families remember Abraham, Moses and 
Joshua, their integrity to the Lord ; and do as you 
have them for your examples. 

" Let the fear and service of the living God be 
encouraged in your houses, and that plainness, 
sobriety and moderation in all things as becometh 
God's chosen people; and as I advise you, my 
beloved children, do you counsel yours, if God should 
give you any. Yea, I counsel and command them as my 
posterity, that they love and serve the Lord God 
with an upright heart, that he may bless you and 
yours from generation to generation. 

"And as for you, who are likely to be concerned 
in the government of Pennsylvania and my parts of 
East-Jersey, especially the first, I do charge you, 



WILLIAM PEN N. 67 

before the Lord God and his holy angels, that yon 
be lowly, diligent and tender, fearing God, loving 
the people, and hating covetousness. Let justice 
have its impartial course, and the law free passage. 
Though to your loss, protect no man against it ; for 
vou are not above the law, but the law above you. 
Live therefore the lives ^'Ourselves you would have 
the people live, and then you have right and bold- 
ness to punish the transgressor. Keep upon the 
square, for God sees you : therefore do your duty, 
and be sure you see with your own eyes, and hear 
with your own ears. Entertain no lurchers, cherish 
no informers for gain or revenge; use no tricks; fly 
to no devices to support or cover injustice; but let 
your hearts be upright before the Lord, trusting in 
him above the contrivances of men, and none shall 
be able to hurt or supplant. 

^' Oh ! the Lord is a strong God, and he can do 
whatsoever he pleases ; and though men consider it 
Dot, it is the Lord that rules and over-rules in the 
kingdoms of men, and he builds up and pulls down. 
I, your father, am the man that can say. He that 
trusts in the Lord, shall not be confounded. But 
God, in due time, will make his enemies be at peace 
with him. 

" If you thus behave yourselves, and so become a 
terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do 
well, God, my God, will be with you in wisdom and 
a sound mind, and make you blessed instruments in 
his hand for the settlement of some of those desolate 



68 BRIEF INI e:moirof 

parts of tlie world, wliicli my soul desires above all 
worldly honours and riches, both for you that go and 
you that stay; you that govern and you that are 
governed ; that in the end you may be gathered 
with me to the rest of God. 

''Finally, my children, love one another with a 
true endeared love, and your dear relations on both 
sides, and take care to preserve tender aifection in 
3^our children to each other, often marrying within 
themselves, so as it be without the bounds forbidden 
in God's law, that so they may not, like the forgetting 
unnatural world, grow out of kindred and as cold as 
strangers ; but as becomes a truly natural and Chris- 
tian stock, you and yours after you may live in the 
pure and fervent love of God towards one another, 
as becoming brethren in the spiritual and natural 
relation. 

'' So, my God, that hath blessed me with his 
abundant mercies, both of this and the other and 
blessed life, be with you all, guide you by his coun- 
sel, bless you and bring you to his eternal glory ! 
that you may shine, my dear children, in the firma- 
ment of God's power, with the blessed spirits of the 
just, that celestial family, praising and admiring him, 
the God and Father of it, for ever. For there is no 
God like unto him -, the God of Isaac and of Jacob, 
the God of the prophets, the apostles and martyrs 
of Jesus, in whom I live for ever. 

" So farewell to my thrice dearly beloved wife and 
children ! 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 69 

'• Yours, as God pleaseth, in that which no waters 
can quench, no time forget, nor distance wear away, 
but remains for ever, 

f^ William Penn. 

<' Worminglnirst, 4th of Sixth 
Month, 1682." 

To proceed with the notice of the voyag;e : — The 
^^ Welcome," with its cheerful passengers, had not 
long quitted Deal, before the small pox, in a virulent 
form, broke out among the ship's company. In the 
crowded vessel it spread rapidly, in spite of all pre- 
cautions, and more than thirty deaths occurred within 
the nine weeks before the " Welcome" reached the 
promised land. The Governor was joyfully received, 
he treated all the people with kindness and goodwill, 
held his first assembly for the province, and estab- 
lished the great principle of religious liberty. He 
next proceeded to fix on a site between the Delaware 
and Skuylkill rivers for the capital city of the prov- 
ince, Philadelphia, and laid out the plan with great 
care and judgment. 

_^ The native tribes had always been objects of his 
special consideration : various purchases of land had 
already been made from them; and the Governor 
now proposed to meet them in a general conference, 
and to establish a treaty of perpetual peace and 
friendship between his people and them. A spot, 
then named Shackamaxon, on the western bank of 
the Delaware, had been formerly used by the Indians 
as a place of meeting on great occasions; -and here, 



70 BRIEF INI EMOIROF 

under an ancient spreading elm, the children of the 
forest on an appointed day, assembled to meet Wil- 
liam Penn and his attendants. The proceedings 
were very simple but deeply interesting. The Gov- 
ernor, a handsome vigorous man, about thirty-eight 
years of age, distinguished by a blue silk sash round 
his waist, and provided with numerous presents 
spread on the ground, held in his hand a parchment 
roll, his officers and friends standing on each side 
and behind him. The Indians came in their forest 
costume, their bodies painted with bright colours, 
and their heads ornamented with trinkets and feath- 
ers. The principal chief, or sachem, put on his own 
head a chaplet, from which rose a small horn, the 
well-known emblem of supreme power; he was at- 
tended by other chiefs, by aged matrons, and many 
of his people, who formed a semicircle, and were 
mostly seated on the turf. He then informed the 
Grovernor, through an interpreter, that ^' the nations'' 
were ready to hear him. 

William Penn began by saying — that the great 
Spirit who made him and them, who ruled the 
heaven and the earth, and penetrated the innermost 
thoughts of men, knew that he and his friends had a 
hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with 
them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power. 
It was not their custom to use hostile weapons 
against their fellow creatures, and therefore they had 
come unarmed. Their object was not to do injury, 
and thus provoke the great Spirit, but to do good. 
They were then met on the broad pathway of sin- 



WILLIAM PENN. 71 

cerity and good-will, so that no advantage was to be 
tak«n on either side, but all was to be openness, 
brotherhood, and love. Unfolding the parchment, 
he explained to them, by an interpreter, the several 
articles of the treaty intended to cement their lasting 
union, and laid it on the ground, which he said 
should be common to both ; concluding by declaring 
that he considered the Indians as the same flesh and 
blood, and of one body with the Christians; and 
presenting the parchment to the principal sachem, to 
be kept for future generations. The Indians listened 
to the address with silent gravity, but with great 
satisfaction ; and an orator, on behalf of the rest, 
made a suitable reply, in which they pledged them- 
selves to live in love with William Penn and his 
children as long as the sun and moon should endure. 

This celebrated treaty and its faithful observance 
by each party have been extolled by both Christian 
and infidel writers : it is said to have been the only 
treaty made without an oath, and never broken. The 
whole conduct of William Penn toward the Indians 
was marked by justice and good-will ; he not only 
paid them for their lands, but endeavoured in various 
ways to promote their welfare and improve their con- 
dition; and the Indian name of Ouas or Penn has 
ever since been held in their grateful remembrance. 
While other colonies were kept in terror by bloody 
wars with the Indians, the unarmed inhabitants of 
Pennsylvania dwelt in peace and security. 

The Indian tribes that met William Penn at this 
famous treaty, are generally supposed to have been 



72 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

chiefly of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware stock, with 
some Mingoes, and other Susquehanna tribes, who 
came to solicit his friendship. The manner in which 
this and other treaties were conducted, is described 
by Penn in his letter to " The free society of Traders." 
He says " The order of the Indians is this ; the King 
sits in the middle of an half moon, and hath his 
council, the old and wise, on each hand : behind 
them, or at a little distance, sit the younger fry in 
the same figure. Having consulted and resolved 
their business, the King ordered one of them to speak 
to me ; he stood up, came to me, and in the name of 
his King saluted me, then took me by the hand and 
told me he was ordered by his King to speak to me, 
and that now it was not he, but the King that spoke, 
because what he should say was the King's mind. 
Having thus introduced the matter, he fell to the 
bounds of the land they had agreed to dispose of, and 
the price. During the time that this person spoke, 
not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile ; 
the old, grave ; the young, reverent in their deport- 
ment ', they speak little, but fervently, and with ele- 
gancy. I have never seen more natural sagacity, 
considering them without the help, I was going to 
say, the spoil of tradition, and he will deserve the 
name of wise, that outwits them in any treaty about 
a thing they understand. When the purchase was 
agreed upon, great promises past between us of kind- 
ness and good neighbourhood, and that the English 
and Indians must live in love as long as the sun gave 
light — which done, another made a speech to the 



AV I L L I A M P E N N . 73 

Indians in the name of all the Sachamakers or Kings ; 
first to tell them what was done ; next to charge and 
command them, to love the Christians, and particular- 
ly live in peace with me, and the people under my 
government. — That many governors had been in the 
river, but that no governor had come himself to live 
and stay here before ; and having now such an one, 
that had treated them well, they should never do 
him or his any wrong — at every sentence of which 
they shouted and said amen in their way/' — 

It is to be regretted that the authentic particulars 
preserved of the great treaty are very limited. 

The place at which it was held, is now called Ken- 
sington, and is included within the thickly built 
parts of the city of Philadelphia A small marble 
monument marks the spot where stood the noble 
treaty elm tree, which was blown down in the year 
1810. Much of the wood was preserved and made 
into various useful little articles to be kept as me- 
morials of " unbroken faith.'' It is said that during 
the revolutionary war, the British general who was 
quartered at Kensington, so respected it, that when 
the soldiers were cutting down every tree for fire- 
wood, he placed a sentinel under it, that not a branch 
might be touched. 

Governor Gordon, at a treaty held at Conestoga in 
1728 with several nations of Indians who resided on 
the Susquehanna, thus alludes to the chief articles 
of Penn's treaty in a speech which he delivered to 
them. 

" My brethren ! — you have been faithful to your 
7 



74 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

leagues with us. Your leagues with William Penn 
and his governors are in writing on record, that our 
children and our children's children may have them 
in everlasting remembrance. And we know that 
you preserve the memory of these things amongst 
you by telling them to your children, and they again 
to the next generation, so that they remain stamped 
on your minds, never to be forgotten. The chief 
heads or strongest links of this chain I find are these 
nine, to wit : 

'' 1st. That all William Penn's people, or Christians, 
and all the Indians, should be brethren, as the chil- 
dren of one father, joined together as with one heart, 
one head and one body. 

"2d. That all paths should be open and free to 
both Christians and Indians. 

•^3d. That the doors of the Christians' houses should 
be open to the Indians, and the houses of the In- 
dians opened to the Christians, and that they should 
make each other welcome as their friends. 

" 4th. That the Christians should not believe any 
false rumors or reports of the Indians, nor the In- 
dians believe any such rumors or reports of the Chris- 
tians, but should first come as brethren to inquire of 
each other; and that both Christians and Indians, 
when they have any such false reports of their breth- 
ren, should bury them as in a bottomless pit. 

'^ 5th. That if the Christians hear any ill news that 
may be to the hurt of the Indians, or the Indians 
hear any such ill news, that may be to the injury of 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 75 

Ihe Christians, they should acquaint each other with 
it speedily as true friends and brethren. 

" 6th. That the Indians should do no manner of 
harm to the Christians nor to their creatures, nor the 
Christians do any hurt to the Indians, but each treat 
each other as brethren, 

" 7th. But as there are wicked people in all nations, 
if either Indians or Christians should do any harm 
to each other, complaint should be made of it by the 
persons suffering, that right might be done, and when 
satisfaction is made the injury or wrong should be 
forgot, and be buried as in a bottomless pit. 

'' 8th. That the Indians should in all thinirs assist 
the Christians, and the Christians assist the Indians 
against all wicked people that would disturb them. 

^' 9th. And lastly, that both Christians and Indians 
should acquaint their children with this league and 
firm chain of friendship made between them, and 
that it should always be made stronger and stronger, 
and be kept bright and clean, without rust or spot, 
between our children and our children's children, 
while the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, 
moon, and stars endure." 

John Kichardson, an eminent minister in the 
Society of Friends, who in the year 1701 was engaged 
in a religious visit to America, visited William Penu 
at his country house at Pennsbury Manor, and there 
met a tribe of Indians who came to renew their treaty 
of alliance and friendship. He says "it was done in 
much calumess of temper and in an amicable way," 
and that "they never first broke covenant with any 



76 BRIEF ME M IR OF 

people/' for " as one of them said, and smote Ins hand 
on his head three times, they did not make them 
there in their heads, but smiting his hand three times 
on his breast, said, they made them there in their 
hearts/^ 

^ He had some religious interviews with the Indians, 
and remarks, ^'I have often thought and said when 
I was among them, that generally my spirit was easy, 
and I did not feel that power of darkness to oppress 
me, as I have done in many places among the people 
called Christians/' 

On one occasion he visited their wigwams with an 

interpreter, and exhorting them as one " who came 

from a far distant country, with a message from the 

Great Man above" to cease from evil things for which 

He would be angry with them. When the interpreter 

explained the discourse to them, they wept, and tears 

ran down their naked bodies, and they smote their 

liands upon their breasts, and said something to the 

interpreter. John Richardson asked what they said 

— the interpreter replied, ''they said all that I had 

delivered to them was good, and except the Great 

Man had sent me, I could not have told them these 

things." I desired the interpreter to ask them, how 

they knew what I said was good ; they replied and 

smote their hands on their breasts, the Good Man 

here (meaning in their hearts) told them what I had 

said was all good. They manifested much love to 

me in their way, and I believe the love of God is to 

them and all people in the day of their visitation." — 

In the last interview William Penn had with the 



AV I L L I A M P E N N . t i 

Indians in 1701, he told them " That he had always 
loved, and been kind to them, and ever should con- 
tinue so to be, not through any politic design or on 
account of self interest, but from a most real affec- 
tion ; and he desired them in his absence, to cultivate 
friendship with those whom he should leave behind 
in authority ; as they would always, in some degree, 
continue to be so to them as himself had ever been ; 
lastly, that he had charged the members of the coun- 
cil, and he then also renewed the same charge, that 
they should in all respects be kind to them, and en- 
tertain them with all courtesy and demonstrations of 
good will, as himself had ever done.'' 

At a council held in Philadelphia, 6th mo., 14th, 
1715, at which James Logan, Isaac Norris, Richard 
Hill, and others of the council were present, Sassoo- 
nau, chief of the Delawares, rose and said " That 
William Penn had, at his first coming, made a clear 
and open road all the way to the Indians, that they 
desired the same might be kept open, and that all 
obstructions should be removed, all of which on their 
side they would take care/' He then presented a 
belt of wampum and added, ^' That they desired the 
peace which had been made should be so firm, that 
they and we should join hand in hand so firmly, that 
nothing, even the greatest tree, should be able to 
divide them asunder." Laying down a second belt, 
he added " That in the last counsel which they held 
with us, they spoke concerning the sun, by whose in- 
fluence they had lived in warmth and plenty, from 
the beginning; that they now desired the same hap- 
7* ^ - 



78 BRIEF MEMOIROF 

piness might be continued to tliem with us in the 
firmest peace ; and that it might last as long as the 
sun should endure; that when any clouds interpose 
between them and the sun, it brings coolness and is 
unpleasant; the same will be, if any cloud should 
arise between them and us, and therefore they desire, 
if any thing of that kind appear, it may be dissij^ated 
without delay. '^ 

At a treaty held with the Six Nations at Philadel- 
phia, in 1742, Canassatego, chief of the Onondagoes, 
said, '' We are all very sensible of the kind regard 
which that good man, William Penu, had for all the 
Indians/' 

In 1749, a council was held during the adminis- 
tration of James Hamilton, with the Senecas and 
other Indians in Philadelphia, on which occasion 
Ogaustash, thus expresses himself : — 

" We recommend it to the governor to tread in 
the steps of those wise people who have held the 
reins of government before him, in .being good and 
kind to the Indians. Do, brother, make it your 
study to consult the interest of our nations ; as you 
have so large an authority, you can do us much good 
or harm ; we would, therefore, engage your influence 
and affections for us, that the same harmony and 
mutual affections may subsist during your govern- 
ment, which so happily subsisted in former times, — 
nay from the first settlement of this province by our 
o'ood friend the c:reat William Penn.'' 

So long as Friends continued to have a controlling 
influence in conducting the government of Penu- 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 79 

sjlvania, a kind and conciliatory treatment was 
maintained towards the Indians, and the friendship 
which existed between them was but little, if at all 
interrupted. The upright and judicious management 
of James Logan, the confidential friend and secretary 
of William Penn, who was long the commissioner for 
land affairs, contributed powerfully to the preserva- 
tion of the friendship and alliance of the Indians. 
But after his death in 1751, a different line of policy 
was soon commenced, and, by the elections. Friends 
were excluded from their majority in the Assembly. 

The peaceable mode in which the government of 
the province had been conducted was now departed 
from, and the abuses committed against the Indians 
in trading, and in taking possession of their land, 
not being properly redressed, an open rupture soon 
took place, attended with the most calamitous results. 

No longer able to control the movements of gov- 
ernment. Friends nevertheless continued to exert 
their influence for reconciliation, and it is stated that 
in 1756, an association was formed " For gaining and 
preserving peace with the Indians by pacific mea- 
sures" — many thousand pounds were raised by sub- 
scription, and expended chiefly in presents to the 
Indians in order to conciliate them, and sometimes 
with a view to prevail on them to seek out and re- 
lease the settlers whom they had taken prisoners. 
These exertions seem to have had a most salutary 
effect, and indeed appear to have been mainly instru- 
luental in restoring peace to the province. 

That the Indians more than half a century after 



80 B R I E F IVI E M I R F 

the departure of William Pcnn, retained a clear sense 
of that bond of faith, made, as they so forcibly de- 
scribe, in the heart, and not alone in the head, is 
shown by the speech of one of the Delaware chiefs 
at a treaty held in 1756, after they had suffered 
many grievous injuries from their professing Chris- 
tian neighbours. On this occasion he says, " We 
are rejoiced to hear from you, that you are willing to 
renew the old good understanding, and that you call 
to mind the first treaty of friendship made by Onas, 
our great friend, deceased, with our forefathers, when 
himself and his people first came over here. AYe 
take hold of these treaties with both our hands, and 
desire you will do the same, that a good understand- 
ing and true friendship may be re-established. Let 
us both take hold of these treaties, with all our 
strength, we beseech you. We on our side will 
certainly do it." — 

Another Indian said, ''I wish the same good 
spirit that possessed the good old man, William Penn, 
who was a friend to the Indians, may inspire the 
people of this province at this time." 

It was an observation of William Penn's with re- 
spect to the Indians, '^ Do not abuse them, but let 
them have but justice, and you win them." That 
this observation was correct, has been abundantly 
shown. The Indians were won — won by justice 
and kind treatment, and ever evinced a desire to 
show their grateful sense of it, by rendering kind 
services to the colonists. ''We have done better" 
said one of the settlers in 1684, "than if with the 



W I L L I A 31 P E N N . 81 

proud Spaniards, we had gained the mines of Potosi. 
We may make the ambitious heroes whom the world 
admires, blush for their shameful victories. To the 
poor, dark souls round about us, we teach their rights 
as men/^ The peaceful and even affectionate con- 
duct of the Indians toward Friends, is another strik- 
ing result of the benefit of the course adopted towards 
them, so that, although unarmed, and in a defenceless 
condition as regarded their personal safety, they lived 
among them in entire security. '^ As in other coun- 
tries,'' says Richard Townsend, ^^the Indians were 
exasperated by hard treatment, which has been the 
foundation of much bloodshed, so the contrary treat- 
ment here, by our worthy proprietor, hath produced 
their lore and affection.'^ In a letter of one of the 
early settlers, already noticed, it is stated that " the 
Indians were even rendered our benefactors and pro- 
tectors ; — without any carnal weapons we entered 
tbe land and inhabited therein, as safe as if there 
had been thousands of garrisons." ^' This little 
state," says Oldmixon, " subsisted in the midst of six 
Indian Nations, without so much as a militia for a 
defense." * 

Heckewelder, in his history of the Indian nations, 
mentions their care to preserve, by means of strings 
and belts of wampum, the memory of their treaties, 
and especially those they made with William Penn. 
He says, '^ They frequently assembled together in 
the woods, in some shady spot, as nearly as possible 
similar to those where they used to meet their 
* See Appendix. 



82 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

brother Miquon, and there lay all his words and 
speeches, with those of his descendants, on a 
blanket or clean piece of bark, and with great satis- 
faction go successively over the whole. This prac- 
tice, which I have repeatedly witnessed, continued 
until the year 1780, when the disturbances which 
took place put an end to it probably for ever." 

As a further evidence that the Christian treatment 
of William Penn had made a deep and durable im- 
pression on the hearts of the Indians, we quote a 
letter of Corn Planter, Chief of the Senecas, ad- 
dressed '' To the children of Onas, who first settled 
in Pennsylvania.' 



" Brothers. — The Seneca nation see that the 
Great Spirit intends that they shall not continue to 
live by hunting, and they look around on every side, 
and inquire who it is that shall teach them what is 
best for them to do. Your fathers have dealt honestly 
and fairly with our fathers, and they have charged 
us to remember it; and we think it right to tell you 
that we wish our children to be taught the same 
principles by which your fathers were guided in 
their councils. 

''Brothers. — We have too little wisdom among 
us, we cannot teach our children what we perceive 
their situation requires them to know, and we there- 
fore ask you to instruct some of them ; we wish 
them to be instructed to read and write, and such 
other things as you teach your own children ; and 
especially to teach them to love peace. 



WILLIAM PEN N. 83 

^'Brothers. — We desire of you to take under your 
care two Seneca boys, and teach them as your own • 
and in order that they may be satisfied to remain 
with you, and be easy in their minds, that you will 
take with them the son of our interpreter, and teach 
him also accordino; to his desire. 

'^ Brothers. — You know that it is not in our power 
to pay you for the education of these three boys; 
and, therefore, you must, if you do this thing, look 
up to God for your reward. 

'' Brothers. — You will consider of this request, 
and let us know what you determine to do. If your 
hearts are inclined towards us, and you will afford 
our nation this great advantage, I will send my son 
as one of the boys to receive your instruction, and at 
the time which you shall appoint. his 

Corn Planter." x 

mark. 

Signed, February 10th, 1791. 

The treatment of the aborigines of our country 
being to the present day a question of deep interest, 
it has been considered proper to introduce some of 
the foregoing particulars, though not closely con- 
nected with the times of our memoir, to show that 
the peaceable principles of Christianity, practically 
carried out, are the surest means of promoting their 
improvement, of disarming their warlike feelings, and 
of enabling others, whom the cause of human progress 
and civilization may lead into their wide domain, 
to dwell in safety and peace. 



84 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

That the great and good Spirit, the '' God of the 
spirit of all flesh/' dwells as well in the heart of the 
Indian, as in that of his white neighbour, cannot be 
safely questioned ; that the benefits of the dispensa- 
tion of ''peace on earth, and good will to men," 
under which it is our privilege to live, were intended 
as well for them, as for professing Christians, will 
probably be denied by few — may it, therefore, be our 
fervent prayer, that the knowledge of this glorious 
Gospel dispensation may spread and cover the earth, 
as the waters do the sea, and the hearts of all, of 
every nation, may be so turned to one another, that 
each, in the bond of peace, may call '' every man his 
brother." 

Kcturning to the regular order of our memoir, it 
appears that the time of the Governor was much 
occupied with the concerns of his rising province. He 
surveyed the territory, built bridges, enacted laws, 
settled differences, founded schools, laid out towns 
and cities, and saw an industrious, thriving popula- 
tion of nearly six thousand English, beside Germans 
and Dutch, settled around him in comfort and pros- 
perit3^ Before his death, the rapidly increasing in- 
habitants had amounted to sixty thousand. In the 
midst of his secular labours he did not forget his re- 
ligious duties; but established many meetings for 
worship, often ministered in them himself, travelling 
in this service througliM-arious parts, and introduc- 
ing a system of wholesome Church government. 
After remaining among his people, as a ruler and a 
father, for nearly two years, he thought it best to 



AV I L L I A M P E N N . 85 

return to England. The boundary between Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland required settlement at home; 
persecution had broken out with renewed violence ; 
and unfounded reports endangered his own reputa- 
tion. He embarked in the summer of 1684, and 
Lad a prosperous voyage. 

On his arrival in England, the same objects 
chiefly engaged his attention, and called him fre- 
quently to the Court. To stay if possible the cruel 
arm of persecution, he earnestly pleaded with the 
King, and published a forcible appeal to the public. 
As respected the boundary between his own province 
and Maryland, whose proprietor, Lord Baltimore, re- 
fused reasonable terms, he was ultimately successful. 



«»» 



86 B R I E F M E M I R F 



CHAPTER YL 1685-1695. 

JAMES II. LIBERATES FBIENDS FROM PRISON ; W. PEXX's IN- 
FLUENCE WITH HIM USED IN FAVOR OF THE OPPRESSED 

RENDERS HIMSELF SUSPECTED AND UNPOPULAR — POPPLe'S 

LETTER, AND REPLY OF W. PENN EPISTLE TO FRIENDS — 

THE REVOLUTION "W. PENN ARRESTED, BUT ACQUITTED 

THREE TIMES — SECLUDES HIMSELF FOR TWO YEARS 

WRITES "REFLECTIONS AND MAXIBIS" — AGAIN HONORABLY 

ACQUITTED — HIS WIFE DIES TRIBUTE TO HER WORTH 

PENNSYLVANIA TAKEN AWAY, BUT RESTORED TO HIM — HIS 
DOCTRINAL VIEWS. 

In about six months after ^Yilliam Penn's return 
to England, Charles IT. died, leaving at least one 
thousand four hundred Friends in prison, many of 
whom had been long and cruelly detained on account 
of their religious principles. Not less than fifteen 
thousand families of different denominations are said 
to have been brought to ruin, and five thousand per- 
sons to have died, for the same cause, in his reign. 
All the Friends were set at liberty by royal procla- 
mation, as were also John Bunyan and some other 
dissenters of eminence. AY. Penn, however, wished 
the new King to act more in concert with his Parlia- 
ment than his own despotic disposition inclined him 
to do. He had always shown himself favourable to 
toleration, and while he now openly professed the 
Koman Catholic faith, he publicly disclaimed arbi- 
trary principles of government, promising to respect 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 87 

the riglits of all, and to maintain the Church of 
England as by law established ] yet niany Protes- 
tants, who had dreaded his advent to power, alarmed 
by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and the 
massacres in France, doubted the sincerity of his 
motives. "William Penn, who had always been on 
intimate terms with James, became, like him, an 
object of public suspicion; which was increased by 
his frequent presence at Court, and by the influence 
which he had with his royal patron — though he used 
it in favour of the oppressed. One of the first per- 
sons whom he attempted to serve was the celebrated 
John Locke, with whom he had long been on friendly 
terms, and who was then an exile in Holland, on 
account of his independent conduct: but Locke de- 
clined to accept the pardon offered him. 

The insurrection under the Duke of Monmouth 
was soon quelled, and was followed by the judicial 
barbarities of Jefferies. Macaulay has attempted to 
connect William Penn with some of those vindictive 
atrocities, but the charge is wholly destitute of 
proof. His conduct both in America and in Eng- 
land was, however, strangely assailed and unjustly 
stigmatized. He was represented as a Jesuit or 
Papist in disguise; even some of his own friends 
became uneasy at the reports which were circulated ; 
and Dr. Tillotson told him plainly of his own fears 
respecting him. An interesting correspondence fol- 
lowed. William Penn expressed his grief at finding 
that any of his friends credited such reports, assert- 
ing that he neither exchanged letters with Eomish 



88 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

priests, nor "was even acquainted witli any sucli. 
But, thougli not a Romanist, he avowed himself a 
Catholic in the true sense of the word, — a Christian, 
whose creed was the New Testament; and that he 
could not refuse that liberty to others which he 
claimed for himself; believing that faith, piety, and 
providence were a better security than force, and 
that if truth could not succeed with her own 
weapons, all others would fail her. Tillotson candidl}?- 
acknowledged his conviction that the reports were 
groundless. The Duke of Buckingham, having 
written a work in favour of liberty of conscience, 
and being attached to William Penn, publicly de- 
fended him. 

The state of affairs in Pennsylvania at this time 
being not very satisfactory, made him earnestly de- 
sirous to return thither; but a strong sense of duty 
detained him in England, and he continued to plead 
zealously for full religious liberty. In a tract, en- 
titled " Fiction found out," he says, in his usual 
manly style, '^ I have this defence for my religion 
and conduct : First, that the grace of God within 
me, and the Scriptures without me, are the founda- 
tion and declaration of my faith and religion : let 
any man get better if he can. Secondly, that the 
profession I make of this religion, is in the same 
way and manner that I have used for almost eighteen 
years past. Thirdly, that my civil conduct, I 
humbly bless my God, has been with peace on earth, 
and good will to all men, from the King on the 
throne, to the beggar on the dunghill.'^ 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 89 

In 1686 he undertook another journey to the con- 
tinent on religious service ; and the King, having 
learned his intention, requested him to see the 
Prince of Orange, and endeavour to gain his appro- 
val of a general toleration and the removal of all re- 
ligious tests in En2;land. Of the former of these the 
Prince approved, but he was opposed to withdrawing 
the tests ; and in these views he was encouraged by 
Dr. Burnet, then at the Hague, Proceeding to 
Amsterdam, W. Penn formed an intimacy with W. 
Sewell, a learned man, then employed in translating 
the "No cross no Crown" into Dutch. He next 
travelled into Germany as a minister of the gospel ; 
of which service he briefly says, the Lord blessed 
him with his glorious presence and power. He be- 
came interested in the condition of several English 
and Scotch refugees, to whom on his return home he 
rendered important service, by pleading their cause 
with the King. 

He next visited, as a minister, some of the midland 
and northern counties of England, and the King 
making a tour in that direction, they occasionally 
met. The meetings at Bristol, Chester, and some 
other places, were very large, and at one or more 
the King appears to have been present. They were 
at Oxford together : and here James committed, on 
the members of Magdalen College, one of those un- 
just acts, which proved at once his arbitrary and his 
Romanising disposition. AVilliam Penn remonstrated 
with him against it, and acted as a sort of mediator 
between the King and the Fellows of the College. 
8* 



90 B R I E F M E M I R F 

He was however unsuccessful, and the latter, though 
he pleaded their cause, did not relish his views of 
opening the university to all religious bodies, and 
joined in the outcry against him, as being inclined 
to Popery. James resolved to pursue his own un- 
wise course, and did not repent till it was too late. 

William Penn's position at this time was extreme- 
ly delicate and critical. His close intimacy with aa 
unconstitutional monarch, a Papist and a despot, 
who yet professed to favour liberty of conscience, 
which he himself decidedly approved, rendered him 
an object of great suspicion, unpopularity, and mis- 
representation, on both political and religious grounds; 
yet there is ample reason to believe that he endea- 
voured to maintain a clear conscience in all respects, 
that he abhorred both tyranny and Popery, and that 
the charges brought against his motives and charac- 
ter at that time, and repeated in our own day, are 
wholly destitute of solid foundation. Abundant is 
the evidence that he exerted his influence to help 
the oppressed and to prevent violent measures. 

The King, however, seemed infatuated. Early in 
1688, contrary to the advice of William Penn and 
some others, he resolved to take the power again into 
his own hands, as his brother Charles II had done : 
and he not only issued a proclamation, a second time 
suspending the execution of all penal laws in matters 
ecclesiastical, but also, by an Order of Council, he, di- 
rected the proclamation ''to be read in all churches. ^^ 
Archbishop Bancroft and six bishops presented a 
petition against the reading of the document, but 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 91 

in vain; the King construed their proceedings into 
an insult, and sent them to the Tower, from which 
they were soon after Uberated by process of law. 
William Penn now became more unpopular than 
ever; he was even suspected of having a hand in 
these unconstitutional measures ; and Jesuits beins; 
openly received at Court, he was charged with en- 
courao'ino- them. 

On this subject, William Popple, Secretary to the 
Board of Trade and Plantations, addressed him a 
letter, in which he says, '' If I had not that particu- 
lar respect for you which I sincerely profess, yet I 
could not but be much affected that any man who 
had deservedly acquired so fair a reputation as you 
have had, whose integrity and veracity had always 
been reputed spotless, and whose charity had been 
continually exercised in serving others at the dear 
expense of his time, his strength, and his estate, 
without any other recompense than what results from 
the consciousness of doing good : 1 say, I could not 
but be much affected to see any such person fall 
innocently and undeservedly, under such unjust re- 
proaches, as you have done/' 

Alluding then to the charges brought against him, 
^^ that under the guise of promoting liberty of con- 
science, he had connived with King James to settle 
Popery in the nation, that " he was a Jesuit,^' that 
^' his professions for the establishment of religious 
liberty were insincere,'^ he most earnestly and affec- 
tionately exhorts him to come out with a public vin- 
dication of his innocence, that these scandalous 



92 BRIEF ME MOIROF 

imputations might no longer lie upon him, and says, 
^'I beg of you, by all the tender efficacy that friend- 
ship, cither mine, or that of your friends and relations 
together, can have upon you ; by the due regard 
which humanity and even Christianity obliges you to 
have to your reputation j by the cause of universal 
religion and eternal truth; to serve your King, your 
country and your religion, by such a public vindica- 
tion of your honour, as j'our OTvn prudence, upon 
these suggestions, will show you to be most necessary, 
and most expedient/^ 

To this friendly and impressive appeal, William 
Penn made the following reply : — 

'^Worthy Friend, 
^' It is now above twenty years, I thank God, that 
I have not been very solicitous what the world 
thought of me. For, since I have had the knowledu'e 
of religion from a principle in myself, the first and 
main point with me has been, to approve myself in 
the sight of Grod, through patience and well-doing. 
So that the world has not had weight enough with 
me, to sufier its good opinion to raise mo, or its ill 
opinion to deject me. And if that had been the 
only motive or consideration, and not the desire of a 
good friend in the name of many others, I had been 
as silent to thy letter, as I use to be to the idle and 
malicious shams of the times. But, as the laws of 
friendship are sacred, with those that value that rela- 
tion, so I confess this to be a principal one with me, 
not to deny a friend the satisfaction he desires, 



WILLIAM PEN N. 93 

vihen it may be done •without offence to a good 
conscience. 

" The business chiefly insisted upon, is my Popery, 
and endeavours to promote it. I do say then, and 
that with all sincerity. That I am not only no Jesuit, 
but no Papist. And which is more, I never had any 
temptation upon me to be one, either from doubts in 
my own mind about the way I profess, or from the 
discourses or writings of any of that religion. And 
in the presence of Almighty God, I do declare, that 
the King did never once, directly or indirectly, 
attack me, or tempt me upon that subject, the many 
years that I have had the advantage of a free access 
to him ', so unjust, as well as sordidly false, are all 
those stories of the town. 

" The only reason that I can apprehend, they have 
to repute me a Roman Catholic, is, my frequent 
going to Whitehall, a place no more forbid to me 
than to the rest of the world, who yet, it seems, 
find much fairer quarter. I have almost continually 
had one business or other there for our Friends, 
whom I ever served with a steady solicitation, 
through all times, since I was of their communion. 
I had also a great many personal good offices to do, 
upon a principle of charity for people of all persua- 
sions, thinking it a duty to improve the little interest 
I had for the good of those that needed it, especially 
the poor. I might add something of my own affairs 
too, though I must own, if I may without vanity, 
that they have ever had the least share of my 



94 B R I E F ]M E M I R r 

thoughts or pains, or else they would not have still 
depended as they yet do. 

" But because some people are so unjust, as to 
render instances of my Popery, or rather hypocrisy, 
for so it ^Yould be in me, it is fit I contradict them 
as particularly as they accuse me. I say then, 
solemnly, that I am so far from having been bred at 
St. Omer's, and having received orders at Home, 
that I never was at either place, nor do I know any 
body there; nor had I ever a correspondence with 
any body in those places, which is another story in- 
vented against me. And, as for my officiating in 
the King's chapel, or any other, it is so ridiculous, 
as well as untrue, that besides, that nobody can do 
it but a priest, and that I have been married to a 
woman of some condition above sixteen years, which 
no priest can be, by any dispensation whatever; I 
have not so much as looked into any chapel of the 
Roman religion, and consequently not the King's, 
though a common curiosity warrants it daily to people 
of all persuasions, 

^'And, once for all, I do say. That I am a Protes- 
tant dissenter, and to that degree such, that I chal- 
lenge the most celebrated Protestant of the English 
Church, or any other, on that head, be he layman or 
clergyman, in public or in private. For, I would 
have such people know, it is not impossible, for a 
true Protestant dissenter to be dutiful, thankful and 
serviceable to the King, though he be of the 
Ptoman Catholic communion. AYe hold not our 
property or protection from him by our persuasion, 



WILLIAM PENN, 95 

and, thereforej his persuasion should not be the 
measure of our allegiance. I am sorry to see so 
many who seem fond of the reformed religion, by 
their disaffection to him, recommend it so illy. 
Whatever practices of Eoman Catholics we migiit 
reasonably object against, and no doubt but such 
there are, yet he has disclaimed and reprehended 
those ill things by his declared opinion against perse- 
cution ; by the ease in which he actually indulges 
all dissenters, and by the confirmation he offers ia 
Parliament, for the security of the Protestant re- 
ligion and liberty of conscience. And, in his 
honour, as well as in my own defence, I am obliged 
in conscience to say, that he has ever declared to me, 
it was his opinion, and on all occasions, when Duke, 
he never refused me the repeated proofs of it, as 
often as I had any poor sufferers for conscience-sake 
to solicit his help for. 

'■'' But some may be apt to say. Why not any body 
else as well as I ? Why must I have the preferable 
access to other dissenters, if not a Papist ? I answer, 
I know not that it is so. But, this. I know, that I 
have made it my province and business; I have fol- 
lowed and prest it, I took it for my calling and 
station, and have kept it above these sixteen years , 
and, which is more, if I may say it without vanity 
or reproach, wholly at my own charges too. To this 
let me add the relation my father had to this King's 
service, his particular favour in getting me released 
out of the tower of London in ^69, my father's 
humble request to him upon his death-bed, to pro- 



96 BRIEF MEMOIROF 

tect me from the inconveniences and troubles my 
persuasion miglit expose me to, and his friendly pro- 
mise to do it, and exact performance of it, from the 
moment I addressed myself to him. I say, when all 
this is considered, any body that has the least pre- 
tence to good nature, gratitude, or generosity, must 
needs know how to interpret my access to the King. 
Perhaps some will be ready to say, This is not all, 
nor is this yet a fault, but that I have been an ad- 
viser to other matters disgustful to the kingdom, and 
which tend to the overthrow of the Protestant 
religion, and the liberties of the people. A likely 
thing, indeed, that a Protestant dissenter, who, 
from fifteen years old, has been, at times, a sufferer 
in his father's family, in the university, and by the 
government, for being so, should design the destruc- 
tion of the Protestant religion. This is just as pro- 
bable as it is true, that I died a Jesuit, six years ago, 
in America. Will men still suffer such stuff to pass 
upon them ? Is any thing more foolish as well as 
false, than that, because I am often at Whitehall, 
therefore, I must be the author of all that is done 
there, that does not please abroad. But, supposing 
some such things to have been done, pray tell me, if 
I am bound to oppose any thing that I am not called 
to do '/ I never was a member of council, cabinet, or 
committee, where the affairs of the kingdom are 
transacted. I have had no office, or trust, and con- 
sequently, nothing can be said to be done by me, nor 
for that reason, could I lie under any test or obliga- 
tion, to discover my opinion of public acts of state, 



WILLIAM PENN. 97 

and, therefore, neither can any such acts, nor my 
silence about them, in justice, be made my crime. 
Yolunteers are blanks and cyphers in all govern- 
ments. And, unless calling at Whitehall once a day, 
upon many occasions, or my not being turned out of 
nothing, for that no office is, be the evidence of. my 
compliance in disagreeable things, I know not what 
else can with any truth, be alleged against me. 
However, one thing I know, that I have every where 
most religiously observed, and endeavoured in con- 
versation with persons of all ranks and opinions, to 
allay heats and moderate extremities, even in the 
politics. It is below me to be more particular, but 
I am sure it has been my endeavour, that if we 
could not all meet upon a religious bottom, at least 
we might upon a civil one, the good of England j 
which is the common interest of King and people. 
That he might be great by justice, and we free by 
obedience; distinguishing rightly on the one hand, 
between duty and slavery; and, on the other, between 
liberty and licentiousness. 

" But, alas ! I am not without my apprehensions 
of the cause of this behaviour towards me, and in 
this, I perceive we agree ; I mean my constant zeal 
for an impartial liberty of conscience. But, if that 
be it, the cause is too good to be in pain about. I 
ever understood that to be the natural right of all 
men ; and that he that had a religion without it, his 
religion was none of his own. For, what is not the 
religion of a man's choice, is the religion of him 
that imposes it. So that liberty of conscience is the 
9 



98 B R I E F M E xM I R F 

first step to have a religion. This is no new opinion 
with me. I have written many apologies within the 
last twenty years to defend it, and that impartially. 
Yet I have as constantly declared, that bounds 
ought to be set to this freedom, and that morality 
was the best ; and that as often as that was violated, 
under a pretence of conscience, it was fit the civil 
power should take place. Nor did I ever once think 
of promoting any sort of civil liberty of conscience 
for any body, which did not preserve the common 
Protestancy of the kingdom, and the ancient rights 
of the government. For, to say truth, the one can- 
not be maintained without the other. 

" Upon the whole matter, I must say, I love 
England; I ever did so; and that I am not in her 
debt. I never valued time, money, nor kindred, to 
serve her and do her good. No party could ever 
bias me to her prejudice, nor any personal interest 
oblige me in her wrong. For, I always abhorred 
discounting private favours at the public cost. 

" Would I have made my market of the fears and 
jealousies of people; when this King came to the 
crown, I had put twenty thousands pounds into my 
pocket, and an hundred thousand into my province. 
For mighty numbers of people were then upon the 
wing. But I waived it all, hoped for better times; 
expected the efi'ects of the King's word for liberty 
of conscience, and happiness by it. And, till I saw 
my friends, with the kingdom, delivered from the 
legal bondage, which penal laws for religion had 
subjected them to, I could, with no satisfaction, 



W I L L I A M P E N N . 99 

tliiuk of leaving England ; tliougli much to my pre- 
judice beyond sea, and at my great expense here; 
having in all this time, never had either office or 
pension • and always refusing the rewards or gratui- 
ties of those I have been able to oblige. 

^' If, therefore, an universal charity, if the assert- 
ing an impartial liberty of conscience, if doing to 
others as one would be done by, and an open avowing 
and steady practising of these things, in all times, 
to all parties, will justly lay a man under the reflec- 
tion of being a Jesuit or Papist, of any rank, I must 
not only submit to the character, but embrace it too ; 
and I care not who knows, that I can wear it with 
more pleasure, than it is possible for them with any 
justice to give it me. For these are corner-stones 
and principles with me ; and I am scandalized at all 
buildings that have them not for their foundation. 
For religion itself is an empty name without them, 
a whited wall, a painted sepulchre, no life or virtue 
to the soul; no good or example to one's neighbour. 
Let us not flatter ourselves; we can never be the 
better for our religion, if our neighbour be the worse 
for it. Our fault is, we are apt to be mighty hot 
upon speculative errors, and break all bounds in our 
resentments; but we let practical ones pass without 
remark, if not without repentance. As if a mistake 
about an obscure proposition of faith, were a greater 
evil than the breach of an undoubted precept. Such 
a religion the devils themselves are not without; for 
they have both faith and knowledge, but their faith 
doth not work by love, nor their knowledge by obe- 



100 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

dience. And, if this be tlieir judgment, can it be 
our blessins;? Let us not then think relio-ion a liti- 
gious thing ; or that Christ came only to make us 
good disputants, but that he came also to make us 
good livers. Sincerity goes further than capacity. 
It is charity that deservedly excels in the Christian 
religion ; and happy would it be, if where unity ends, 
charity did begin, instead of envy and railing, that 
almost ever follow. It appears to me to be the way 
that God has found out, and appointed to moderate 
our differences, and make them at least harmless to 
society ; and, therefore, I confess, I dare not aggra- 
vate them to wrath and blood. Our disagreement 
lies in our apprehension or belief of things; and if 
the common enemy of mankind had not the govern- 
ing of our affections and passions, that disagreement 
would not prove such a canker as it is, to love and 
peace, in civil societies. 

^' He that suffers his difference with his neighbour 
about the other world, to carry him beyond the line 
of moderation in this, is the worse for his opinion, 
even though it be true. It is too little considered 
b}^ Christians, that men maj^ hold the truth in un- 
righteousness ) that they may be orthodox, and not 
know what spirit they are of; so were the Apostles 
of our Lord ; they believed in him, yet let a false 
zeal do violence to their judgment, and their unwar- 
rantable heat contradict the great end of their 
Saviour's coming, love. 

''Men may be angry for God's sake, and kill 
people too. Christ said it, and too many have prac- 



WILLIAM PENN. 101 

tised it. But what sort of Christians must they be, 
I pray, that can hate in his name, who bids us love ; 
and kill for his sake, that forbids killing; and com- 
mands love, even to enemies ? 

"Let not men or parties think to shift it off from 
themselves. It is not this principle, or that form, to 
which so great a defection is owing, but a degene- 
racy of mind from God. Christianity is not at 
heart, no fear of God in the inward parts. No awe 
of his Divine Omnipresence. Self prevails, and 
breaks out more or less, through all forms, but too 
plainly (pride, wrath, lust, avarice), so that though 
people say to God, Thy will be done, they do their 
own ; which shows them to be true heathens, under 
a mask of Christianity, that believe without works, 
and repent without forsaking, busy for forms and the 
temporal benefits of them, while true religion, which 
is to visit the fatherless and the widow, and to keep 
ourselves unspotted from the world, goes barefoot, 
and, like Lazarus, is despised. Yet this was the 
definition the Holy Ghost gave of religion, before 
synods and councils had the meddling with it, and 
modelling of it. In those days bowels were a good 
part of religion, and that to the fatherless and 
widow at large. We can hardly now extend them to 
those of our own way. It was said by him that 
could not say amiss ; Because iniquity abounds, the 
love of many waxeth cold. Whatsoever divides 
man's heart from God, separates it from his neigh- 
bour; and he that loves self more than God, can 
never love his neighbour as himself. For, as the 
9* 



102 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

Apostle said, if we do not love him whom we have 
seen, how can we love God, whom we have not seen ? 

" that we could see some men as eager to turn 
people to God, as they are to blow them up, and set 
them against one another. But, indeed, those only 
can have that pure and pious zeal, who are them- 
selves turned to God, and have tasted the sweetness 
of that conversion, which is to power, not form; 
to godliness, not gain. Such as those bend their 
thoughts and pains to appease, not increase heats 
and animosities, to exhort people to look at home, 
sweep their own houses, and weed their own gardens. 
And, in no age or time, was there more need to set 
men at work in their own hearts, than this we live 
in, when so busy, wandering, licentious a spirit pre- 
vails. For, whatever some men may think, the 
disease of this kingdom is sin, impiety against God, 
and want of charity to men. And while this guilt 
is at our door, judgment cannot be far off. 

'• Now this being the disease, I will briefly offer two 
things for the cure of it. The first is, David's clean 
heart and right spirit, which he asked, and had of 
God. Without this we must be a chaos still ; for the 
distemper is within ; and our Lord said, All evil 
comes from thence. Set the inward man right, and 
the outward man cannot be wrong. That is the helm 
that governs the human vessel. And this nothing 
can do but an inward principle, the light and grace 
that came by Christ, wh6 the Scriptures tell us, en- 
lightens every one, and hath appeared to all men. 



WILLIAM P E N N . 103 

It is preposterous to think, that he who made the 
world, should show least care of the best part of it, 
our souls ; no, he that gave us au outward luminary 
for our bodies, hath given us an inward one for our 
minds to act by. We have it; and it is our con- 
demnation that we do not love it, and bring our 
deeds to it. It is by this we see our sins, are made 
sensible of them, sorry for them, and finally forsake 
them. And he that thinks to go to Heaven a nearer 
way, will, I fear, belate his soul, and be irreparably 
mistaken. There are but goats and sheep at last, 
whatever shapes we wear here. Let us not, there- 
fore, dear friend, deceive ourselves. Our souls are at 
stake, God will not be mocked, what we sow we must 
expect to reap. There is no repentance in the 
grave; which shows, that if none there, then no 
where else. To sum up this divinity of mine; it is 
the light of Jesus in our souls, that gives us a true 
sight of ourselves, and that sight that leads us to re- 
pentance, which repentance begets humility, and 
humility that true charity, that covers a multitude 
of faults, which I call God's expedient against man's 
infirmity. The second remedy to our present dis- 
temper is this ; since all of all parties profess to be- 
lieve in God, Christ, the .Spirit, and Scripture, that 
the soul is immortal, that there are eternal rewards 
and punishments, and that the virtuous shall receive 
the one, and the wicked suffer the other; I say, since 
this is the common faith of" Christendom, let us all 
resolve in the strength of God to live up to what we 



104 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

agree in, before we fall out so miserably about tlie 
rest in which we diifer. I am persuaded, the chano-e 
and comfort which that pious course would bring us to, 
would go very far to dispose our natures to compound 
easily for all the rest, and we might hope yet to see 
happy days in poor England; for there I would have 
so good a work begun. And, how it is possible for 
the eminent men of every religious persuasion,, espe- 
cially the present ministers of the parishes of England, 
to think of giving an account to God at the last day, 
without using the utmost of their endeavours to mode- 
rate the members of their respective communions, 
towards those that diifer from them, is a mystery to 
me. But this I know and must lay it at their doors, I 
charge also my own soul with it, God requires modera- 
tion and humility from us ; for he is at hand, who will 
not spare to judge our impatience, if we have no 
patience for one another. The eternal God rebuke, 
I beseech him, the wrath of man, and humble 
all under the sense of the evil of this day : and yet, 
unworthy as we are, give us peace, for his holy name's 
sake. 

" It is now time to end this letter, and T will do it 
without saying any more than this. Thou seest my 
defence against popular calumny ; thou seest what my 
thoughts are of, our condition, and the way to better 
it, and thou seest my hearty and humble prayer to Al- 
mighty God, to incline us to be wise, if it were but 
for our own sakes. I shall only add, that I am ex- 
tremely sensible of the kindness and justice intended 



WILLIAM PENN. 105 

roe by my friends on tliis occasion, and that I am fur 
that; and many more reasons, 

" Thy obliged and affectionate friend, 

'^ William Penn. 

"Teddington, October 
the 24tli, 1688." 

Subsequently, he addressed the following epistle 
to his own religious society, being a clear exposition 
of the purity of that foundation on which his pro- 
fession was built, and of his sincerity in upholding it 
against all the opposition of evilly disposed men : 

"an epistle general to the people of god, 
called quakers, by their friend and broth- 
er, william penn. 

" Containing, 1st. A testimony to the holy truth 
and way of God^*^' 

" 2d. An exhortation to the people of God to walk 
in it. 

"3d. A vindication of himself from the slanders 
of wicked men, 

"Dearly beloved friends and brethren, to whom 
my soul wisheth the increase of grace, mercy, and 
peace from God our father and our Lord Jesus 
Christ : 

" It is now about twenty-two years since I em- 
braced the testimony of the blessed truth and the 
fellowship of it amongst you, which is Christ the 
light of the world in us, the hope of the glory which 



106 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

is to come. I cannot repine, notwithstanding tlie 
many sorts of troubles and afflictions I have met 
withal on that account, whether they came from my 
near relations, or the governments of the world, or 
my neighbours, or my enemies, or my false friends : 
above all considerations I bow my knee to the God 
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of 
Glory, with holy thanks and humble praises, that he 
has given me the knowledge of himself by the light 
and grace of his Son in my heart, unto which I 
turned in my youthful days by that sjiiritual and 
gospel ministry that God has raised up amongst you, 
that reached the conscience in word and doctrine. 
And though I have been compassed about with mani- 
fold difficulties in my time and service, yet I can 
say my desire has been to serve him in the gospel of 
his Son, for the exaltation of his own glorious name 
and truth, according to the gift I received from him, 
from whom every good and perfect gift comes, who 
is the great Father of ligJifs and spirits. By him 
alone it has been that I have been enabled to speak 
well of his name from the experience I have had of the 
goodness he has shown to my soul, both in his judg- 
ments and mercies ; and I can say that his mercies en- 
dure forever; and they that will try, shall jBud, that there 
is mercy with hi7n, that he may he feared. His word 
of light, grace, and truth in the heart will cleanse the 
young man's ways, and guide the old man in the 
path he should walk, to peace. I found that from 
the revelation of this word in the soul, springs the 
true conviction and knowledsre of God and a man's 



WILLIAM PENN. 107 

self, and by nothing else can man be convicted and 
born again. Further, I perceived that in this living, 
revealing word, standeth the true ministry and all 
acceptable private devotion — religion without this 
being an empty sound, an insipid thing, an image or 
picture of a living thing, but it is without real life 
and motion. To know the convincing, converting, 
and redeeming power of this word, and to be ac- 
quainted with the needful and excellent graces of it 
— for 'tis a word of faith, reconciliation and patience, 
meekness and regeneration — I found there must be 
a sincere retirement of the soul from all self-love, and 
the lusts and vanities of the world, and an humble 
and steady waiting for its inward holy monitions and 
illuminations in the soul, and a resignation to the 
holy doctrine it teacheth, be it never so cross to our 
vain desires and carnal inclinations and customs, 
which unfolded to me the discipline of the ti^ue cross 
of Christ, and what it was to take it up daily and 
follow him that bore it, for the love of him, and that 
there was no other way to follow Jesus fully, and 
attain to the glory that shall hereafter be revealed, 
and that crown which never fades away. Now, 
friends, here you are, for God has brought you hither 
to this sense, knowledge, and experience of his new 
covenant work, which is the glory of the latter days, 
and though sown in clouds, yet you need not that 
any one should now teach you, saying, Know the 
Lord, for I know you know him, and where he 
dwells, and how to approach him — and therefore 
here keep, and in the feeling and guidance of this 



108 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

divine word and oracle abide. If any sliould call 
upon you, Lo here ! and lo there ! go not forth, for if 
it were possible for an angel from heaven to come 
with another gospel than this word of light and 
grace in the heart, let him be accursed. AVhither 
should you, or can you go for true satisfaction, when 
this Word hath the words of eternal life ? and it can- 
not be otherwise, since in this Word is life, and that 
life is the light of men, and this is the condemnation 
of the world that it has this light, and yet men will 
not bring their deeds to it; but the reason is plain^ 
because they love darkness rather than light, and the 
cause of that is, because their deeds are evil, and 
will not bear the discovery of that blessed day dawn- 
ing upon the soul. 

" Wherefore, dear friends, that you may be new 
covenant children, true Jews, circumcision in Spirit, 
Christians of Christ's christening, and making, by 
fire and by the Holy Ghost, by the holy water of the 
word of regeneration, that washes the inside and 
takes out the spots of the soul, and is called the lavcr 
of the word; I beseech you in the bowels of Christ 
Jesus to love this word, and hide it in your hearts, 
wait upon it and commune with it, that you ma}'- 
know it to be your holy oracle, to inspire, guide, and 
order you through the whole course of your pilgri- 
mage, till you shall have fought out the good fight 
of faith, and finished your course, and shall arrive at 
the rest of God, reserved by him for his people that 
endure to the end. 

'' And noW; my friends, as concerning the present 



WILLIAM P E N N . 109 

ossings and revolutions of things that are in the 
world, let your eye he to God ; believe not every spirit^ 
nor lay hands suddenly on 2^erso7is or things, but be 
humble and sober, and do to others as you would that 
they should do to you, and stand still that you may see 
the salvation of God come in His own way, for so 
you are to receive it and share in it. And for those 
clamours that have almost darkened the air against 
me, your suffering friend and brother, be neither 
troubled nor captivated by them, but keep your 
minds chaste in the dwellings of truth, and possess 
your souls in patience, and in this true frame of spirit 
remember me, as I have never forgotten you. But 
of one thing be assured, I am innocent both of the 
imputation of Jesuitism, Popery, and plots, and my 
God will in his good time confound their devices that 
trouble you and me with their false things, though I 
beseech him to forgive the authors of them as I de- 
sire mercy for my own soul. I have little deserved 
this measure and usage from any of the people of 
this nation. The Lord God Almighty knows I have 
universally sought the liberty and peace of it, and 
that nothing may take place to spoil or hinder that 
good work, nor can any upon earth justly task me 
with advancing any one thing that unbecomes a 
Christian and an Englishman ; neither blood, Popery, 
money, nor slavery, can be laid at my door. I 
wrought as well as I could with the strength and 
instruments I had, for a general good. If some 
things were done that were not well done and pleased 
10 



110 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

not, it was no fault of mine, and that is well known 
to many persons of unquestionable truth. 

" I never accepted of any commission hut that of a 
free and common solicitor for sufferers of all sorts 
and in oil ijarties, which made my conversation very 
general. I thought that charity, which gave me 
that office, should know no man after the flesh, nor 
suffer bounds to any that needed it, nor do I find in 
my conscience that doing what good one can under 
any government is a sin or a fault, for which a man 
ought to be stigmatized or evilly entreated. I ac- 
knowledge I was an instrument to break the jaws of 
persecution ] to that end I once took the freedom to 
remember King James of his frequent assurances in 
favour of liberty of conscience, and with much zeal 
used my small interest with him to gain that point 
upon his ministers that he told me were against it. 
That so the doors of our prisons and meeting-houses, 
until that time cruelly shut against us, might be 
opened, and the poor and the widow and the orphan 
might come forth and praise Grod in the use of a just 
freedom. This and personal good offices were my 
daily business at Whitehall, of which I can take the 
righteous God of heaven and earth to witness. Nor 
can I yet see that providence of liberty and peace 
which we enjoyed under him, was such a trick or 
snare as some have represented it. Harm is to them 
that harm think; we sought but our just and Chris- 
tian privilege, and I heartily wish that they that 
thought so, may do better and answer that great ex- 
pectation that has been raised in the people's minds 



WILLIAM PENN. Ill 

about it. One thing I know — could I have appre- 
hended that the good days we had during his reign 
were a trick to introduce evil ones, all obligations 
would have ceased with me, and no man more earn- 
estly and cheerfully engaged after my manner against 
his government than myself. For, alas ! what did I 
seek, or what have I got! What I have spent and 
lost is much harder to tell. But I leave that with a 
just and good God to reprize me and mine in his 
own way and time, as I do to vindicate my opprest 
innocency against my implacable adversaries, of 
whom with David I can say, ' they have hated me 
without a cause,' and as he expresses himself. Psalms 
109, V. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ' Hold not thy peace, God of 
my praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the 
mouth of the deceitful are opened against me — with 
a lying tongue have they compassed me about also 
with words of hatred ; and fous-ht ao;ainst me without 
a cause ; for my love they are my adversaries, but I 
give myself to prayer; and they have rewarded me 
evil for good, and hatred for my love.' 

''The Lord God Almighty rebuke the wrath and 
wickedness of man, and look down from heaven upon 
this broken and sinful nation in his great mercy, and 
heal it of all its distempers, that we, notwithstanding 
the judgments of God that seem to gather over our 
heads as a dark cloud, may yet see righteousness and 
peace break forth in this land, as the sun in the ful- 
ness and strength of his glory. And for you, my 
dear brethren, in whose cause, and for whose sakes 
I have been as one killed all the day long, have your 



112 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

conversation, let me entreat jou, according to the 
gospel, in sobriety and humility, in patience and 
brotherly kindness. Be steadfast and immovable in 
every good word and work, that in all things you 
may walk as becometh the true disciples of Christ, 
whose kingdom is not of this world, and who teach- 
eth his followers how to live in it as they ought to 
do, rather than how to get it, that so your heavenly 
Father may be glorified by you, who is worthy, with 
the Son, to receive all glory and praise, with obedi- 
ence and reverence, now and for ever. 

'■'■ I am, in the sufferings and patience of the king- 
dom of Christ which yet remain, your faithful friend 
and brother. William Penn.'^ 

The nation was at this time in a state of general 
ferment. William, Prince of Orange, was invited 
to come over, and after landing in Torbay, he and 
his consort were soon seated on the throne. W. 
Penn's situation was thus suddenly reversed. He 
might have retired to the continent, or to Pennsyl- 
vania; but, conscious of his own innocence, he re- 
solved not to withdraw, as most of King James's ad- 
herents had done, but to remain in England openly 
as before. In a few weeks, while walking in the 
garden at AVhitehall, he was called before the Lords 
of the Council, and underwent a close examination ; 
when he declared that he had done, and should do 
nothing, but what he was willing to answer for 
before his God and his country. Though no accusa- 
tion was brought against him, the Council required 



WILLIAM P E N N , 113 

security for his re-appearance, and then discharged 
him. At his re-examination, nothing being produced 
to justify detention, he was liberated in open Court. 
In addition to his trials at home, he had others 
abroad. Matters did not go on well in America : 
the settlers disagreed and complained without reason ; 
the deputy governor resigned; and, instead of re- 
mitting money to the proprietor, they continued to 
draw on him for more, though he was himself greatly 
straitened. His letters to the refractory colonists are 
full of just and generous sentiments. 

William Penn soon had the great satisfaction of 
seeing the Act of Toleration passed in a constitutional 
manner by the King and Parliament; and though it 
did not come up to the full extent of his enlarged 
views, it put a great check on persecution, and was 
hailed with general approbstion. 

In 1690 he was twice arrested. In the first in- 
stance he was taken up by some military, in conse- 
quence of a letter addressed to him by James, which 
had been intercepted. On appealing to King William 
in person, he was brought before him and the Coun- 
cil, and closely examined for two hours, when he 
made no secret of his attachment to James, but de- 
clared that he knew nothing of the letter; that he 
was sensible of his present duty as a subject; and 
that he never had the wickedness, even to think 
of endeavouring to restore to the late King, the 
crown which had fallen from his head. After giving 
security for his appearance in Court, he was allowed 
to withdraw, and on again presenting himself, was 
10* 



114 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

honourably discharged a second time. Soon after, 
King William having gone over to Ireland, and the 
nation being threatened with an invasion from 
France, the Queen adopted strong measures, and 
issued a proclamation for apprehending eighteen per-' 
sons of importance, considered doubtful, among 
whom was William Penn. He was committed to 
prison, but on being brought up before the Court of 
King's Bench, he was a third time fully acquitted. 

For some time he had been making preparations 
for another voyage to Pennsylvania, where his pre- 
sence was very necessary, and where he longed for a 
quiet retreat from secret slander and open outrage. 
The secretary of state too furthered his intention, 
and vessels were prepared for him and others. At 
this time, he attended the funeral of his beloved 
friend George Fox, and preached to about two thou- 
sand persons assembled at the grave. Immediately 
afterwards, he heard that a fresh charge had been 
made against him by one Fuller, whom Parliament 
subsequently pronounced " a notorious impostor and 
false accuser.'^ He was now convinced that, though 
innocent, there was no security for him in public ; 
and believing that enmity would supersede justice, 
he felt justified in seeking retirement, and withdrew 
to a private lodgiug in London, where he spent his 
time in study and religious exercises, with the occa- 
sional conversation of a few select friends. His long 
absence produced serious evils in the province ; his 
own private affairs fell into disorder; the popular 
clamour against him increased ; and, he even fell 



WILLIAM PENN. 115 

under the censure of some of his fellow members. 
To reassure these, he addressed the following short, 
but touching epistle, to the yearly meeting of 1691, 
in London. 

"The 30th of the Third Month, 1691. 

*^My Beloved, Dear, and Honoured 
Brethren, 
'^ My unchangeable love salutes you; and though 
I am absent from you, yet I feel the sweet and lowly 
life of your heavenly fellowship, by which I am with 
you, and a partaker amongst you, whom I have loved 
above my chiefest joy. Beceive no evil surmisings, 
neither suffer hard thoughts, through the insinua- 
tions of any, to enter your minds against me your 
afflicted, but not forsaken friend and brother. My 
enemies are yours, and in the ground, mine for your 
sakes ; and that Grod seeth in secret, and will one 
day reward openly. My privacy is not because men 
have sworn truly, but falsely against me ; for wicked 
men have laid in wait for me, and false witnesses 
have laid to my charge things that I knew not; who 
have never sought myself, but the good of all, through 
great exercises, and have done some good, and would 
have done more, and hurt to no man, but always de- 
sired that truth and righteousness, mercy, and peace 
might take place amongst us. Feel me near you, 
and lay me near you, my dear, and beloved brethren, 
and leave me not, neither forsake, but wrestle with 
Him that is able to prevail against the cruel desires 
of some, that we may yet meet in the congregationsi 



116 BRIEF MEMOIR OP 

of his people, as in days past to our mutual comfort. 
The everlasting God of his chosen in all generations, 
be in the midst of you, and crown your most solemn 
assemblies with his blessed presence, that his tender, 
meek, lowly, and heavenly love and life may flow 
among you ; and that he wduld please to make it a 
seasoning and fruitful opportunity to you, that, 
edified and comforted, you may return home to his 
glorious high praise, who is worthy for ever. To 
whom I commit you, desiring to be remembered of 
you before him, in the nearest and freshest accesses, 
who cannot forget you in the nearest relation. 
'' Your faithful friend and brother, 
William Penn." 

John Locke, having come to England with King 
William, generously desired to return William Penn^s 
former kindness, and offered to procure for him a 
pardon ; but he, sensible of his innocence, and imi- 
tating the conduct of his friend, thankfully declined 
the offer. To add to his other trials, his attached 
wife was so affected by them that her health gave 
way ; and his many enemies, representing Pennsyl- 
vania in a disordered and ruinous state, prevailed on 
the King in 1692, to deprive him of the govern- 
ment, and confer it on Colonel Fletcher, the Gover- 
nor of New York. His trials were now at their 
height ; having tasted largely of prosperity, he had 
to drink as deeply of an adverse cup. But under 
and through all, divine help sustained his mind, and 
strengthened him to bear these accumulated afflic- 



WILLIAM PENN. 117 

tions, with humble, but unshaken fortitude, in the 
consciousness of his own integrity. 

To make his retirement profitable to himself and 
to others, he again employed his pen, and guided 
by his own extensive and varied experience, wrote 
an excellent treatise, entitled, " Fruits of Solitude, 
in Reflections and Maxims, relating to the Conduct 
of Human Life/' Some extracts from the preface, 
will furnish a good specimen of the value and style 
of this little work. " The author blesseth God for 
his retirement, and kisses that gentle hand which led 
him into it; for, though it should prove barren to 
the world, it can never do so to him ; he has now had 
some time he could call his own — a property he was 
never so much master of before; in which he has 
taken a view of himself and the world, and observed 
wherein he has hit or missed the mark, what might 
have been done, what mended, and what avoided in 
human conduct, together with the omission and ex- 
cesses of others, as well societies and governments, 
as private families and persons. And he verily 
thinks, were he to live over his life again, he could 
not only, with God's grace, serve him, but his neigh- 
bour and himself better than he hath done, and have 
seven years of his time to spare. And yet, perhaps, 
he hath not been the worst, or the idlest man in the 
world, nor is he the oldest. And this is the rather 
said that it might quicken thee, reader, to lose none 
of the time that is yet thine.'' 

Another subject which he took up was that of 
war, then producing great misery; and in "An 



118 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

Essay toward the present and future peace of 
Europe/' he suggested the idea of a general repre- 
sentative assembly on the continent, for securing 
peace between the several governments, — an idea 
which has of later time been repeatedly revived. 
The seclusion which he observed, does not appear to 
have been very strict^ or to have prevented him from 
going out occasionally ; yet, he was never disturbed ; 
and in 1693, at the end of three years' retirement, 
Fuller having fallen into deep disgrace, and his ac- 
cusation not being credited, several noblemen, and 
others, who were well acquainted with AYilliam 
Penn's character and services, lamenting his hard 
situation, represented his case to the King. William 
having a regard for him, readily acceded to their re- 
quest, that he might enjoy unmolested liberty; and, 
shortly afterwards, on his appearing before the King 
and Council, he was honourably acquitted. 

His beloved and excellent wife, who had deeply 
felt the position of his affairs, was now sinking under 
the effects, and did not survive his enlargement 
more than a month, when death brought her a peace- 
ful release from anxiety and suffering. 

In an affectionate tribute to her worth, William 
Penn says : — 

" During her illness, she uttered many living and 
weighty expressions, upon divers occasions, both 
before and near her end. Some of which I took 
down for mine, and her dear children's consolation. 

<'At one of the many meetings held in her cham- 



WILLIAM P E N N . 119 

ber, we and our children, and one of our servants 
only being present, in a tendering and living power, 
she broke out as she sat in her chair, ' Let us all 
prepare, not knowing what hour or watch the Lord 
Cometh. 0, I am full of matter ! shall we receive 
good, and shall we not receive evil things at the 
hand of the Lord ? I have cast my care upon the 
Lord; he is the physician of value; my expectation 
is wholly from him. He can raise up, and he can 
cast down.' A while after she said, ' Oh what shall 
be done to the unprofitable servant?' At another 
meeting, before which much heaviness seemed to lie 
upon her natural spirits, she said, ' This has been a 
precious opportunity to me ; I am finely relieved and 
comforted, blessed be the Lord.' At another time, 
as I was speaking to her of the Lord's love, and the 
witness of his Spirit that was with her, to give her 
the peace of well doing, she returned to me, looking 
up, she said, ' I never did, to my knowledge, a wicked 
thing in all ray life.' 

" To a friend, aged seventy-five years, that came 
to see her, she said, ' Thou and I to all appearance are 
near our ends.' And to another about sixty-five years 
old, who came also to see her, she said, ' How much 
older has the Lord made me by this weakness, than 
thou art! but I am contented, I do not murmur; I 
submit to his holy will.' 

" In the strength of her disease she said, ' It is the 
great goodness of the Lord, that I should be able to 
lie thus still. He is the physician of value to me, 
can I say ; let my tongue set forth his praise, and 



120 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

my spirit magnify him whilst I have breath. 0, I 
am ready to be transported beyond my strength. 
God was not in the thunder, nor in the lisrhtnino;, 
but he was heard in the still voice.' She did at 
several times pray very sweetly, and in all her weak- 
ness manifested the most equal, undaunted and re- 
signed spirit, as well as in all other respects. She 
was an excellent example, both as a child, wife, 
mother, mistress, friend and neighbour. 

" She called the children one day when weak, and 
said, ' Be not affrighted children, I do not call you to 
take my leave of you, but to see you, and I would 
have you walk in the fear of the Lord, and with his 
people in his holy Truth,' or to that effect. 

" Speaking at another time solemnly to the child- 
ren, she said, ' I never desired any great things for 
you, but that you may fear the Lord and walk in 
his Truth, among his people, to the end of your 
days,' &c. 

"She would not suffer me to neglect any public 
meeting, after I had my liberty, upon her account, 
saying often, ' go my dearest ! do not hinder any 
good for me. I desire thee go : I have cast my care 
upon the Lord : I shall see thee again.' 

"About three hours before her end, a relation 
taking leave of her, she said again, ' I have cast my 
care upon the Lord. My dear love to all Friends,' 
and (lifting up her dying hands and eyes) prayed 
the Lord to preserve them and bless them. About 
an hour after, causing all to withdraw, we were half 
an hour together, in which we took our last leave, 



WILLIAM PENN. 121 

saying all that was fit upon that solemn occasion. 
She continued sensible, and did eat something about 
an hour before her departure ] at which time our 
children, and most of the family were present. She 
quietly expired in my arms, her head upon my 
bosom, with a sensible and devout resignation of her 
soul to Almighty God. I hope, I may say, she was 
a public, as well as private loss. For, she was not 
only an excellent wife and mother, but an entire 
and constant friend, of more than common capacity 
and great modesty and humility; yet most equal 
and undaunted in danirer, Kelioious, as well as in- 
genuous, without affectation. An easy mistress, and 
good neighbour, especially to the poor. Neither 
lavish, nor penurious, but an example of industry, 
as well as of other virtues. Therefore, our great 
loss is her own eternal gain.'^ 

In the mean time, the course of affairs between 
the Pennsylvanians and the new Governor, was by 
no means smooth and harmonious. A military, 
worldly-minded man, he did not either like or under- 
stand the views of Friends, who constituted the 
majority of the colonists, and of the Legislative 
Assembly. Some of his acts were illegal, and many 
of them were very unfriendlike. After staying a 
short time in the province, and confirming the 
former deputy governor, he retired to his station at 
New York. The colonists strongly contrasted his 
conduct with that of William Penn, whom they 
loncred to see amongst them asrain. His attraction 

11 



122 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

towards them and their country was no less ardent ; 
but he was not then able to gratify his wishes. 

He again brought out several short treatises, the 
chief of which was designed for a preface to the 
Journal of George Fox, and was entitled ''An 
Account of the Rise and Progress of the People 
called Quakers/' It has been much valued, and 
often reprinted. The first chapter contains a notice 
of each distinct body of Christians existing at that 
time ; and some of the views contained in it are very 
striking. 

Two events of a pleasing character soon followed. 
Many members of his own religious Society, who 
had disapproved of the active part taken by him in 
political life, became thoroughly satisfied of his in- 
tegrity and good motives, and he regained his former 
place in their Christian regard and affection. In 
1694, too, he was restored by the King to the 
government of Pennsylvania. The language of the 
instrument reinstating him, was very creditable to 
William Penn ; for, while it pronounced an opinion 
on the necessity of a small military force on the 
frontier, it declared, that the disorder and confusion, 
into which the province and territories had fallen, 
had been occasioned by his absence ; thus, was 
denied, that which had formed the chief pretence for 
dispossessing him two years and a half before. A 
general re-action of feeling in his favour also took 
place in the public mind in England. 

As regards his views on some very important 



WILLIAM PENN. 123 

Christian truths, it may not be unsuitable here to 
introduce the following quotations from his writings. 

From his work, entitled, ''A Key to distinguish 
between the Quaker's religion and the perversions 
of it/^ 1692. 

^^ Perversion 9. The Quakers deny the Trinity. 
Nothing less; they believe in the Holy Three, or 
Trinity of Father, Word, and Spirit, according to 
Scripture. And, that these Three are truly and 
properly one; of one nature as well as will. But 
they are very tender of quitting Scripture terms 
and phrases for schoolmen's ; such as distinct 
and separate persons and subsistences, &c., from 
whence people are apt to entertain gross ideas and 
notions.^' 

^^Perverslon 10. The Quakers deny Christ to 
be G-od. A most untrue and unreasonable cen- 
sure,'^ &c. 

"Perversion 11. They deny the human nature 
of Christ. We never taught, said, or held so gross a 
thing, if by human nature be understood the man- 
hood of Christ Jesus. For, as we believe him to be 
God over all blessed for ever, so we do, as truly 
believe him, to be of the seed of David and Abra- 
ham, according to the flesh, and, therefore, truly and 
properly man," &c. 

In his work, entitled, '' Primitive Christianity Re- 
vived," he says, '' We do believe, that Jesus Christ 
was our holy sacrifice, atonement, and propitiation ; 
that he bore our iniquities, and that, by his stripes, 



124 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

we were licaled of the wounds Adam gave us in. his 
fall ', and that God is just in forgiving true penitents 
upon the credit of that holy offering Christ made of 
himself to Grod for us ; and that, what he did and 
suffered, satisfied and pleased God, and was for the 
sake of fallen man, that had displeased God; and 
that, through the offering up of himself once for all, 
through the Eternal Spirit, he hath for ever per- 
fected those, in all times, that were sanctified, who 
walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit/^ — 
Rom. viii. 1. 

In a tract, entitled, '^A Serious Apology for the 
Principles and Practices of the people called Quakers,^' 
written by William Penn, during a confinement in 
Newgate, to which prison he had been committed for 
six months, for no other cause than preaching the 
gospel to his brethren, at one of their meetings, and 
refusing to disobey the commandments of Christ, by 
taking an oath, he says in the sixth chapter, " I am 
constrained for the sake of the simple-hearted, to 
publish to the world, of our faith in God, Christ, 
and the Holy Spirit/^ ^' "We do believe in one 
only, holy God Almighty, who is an eternal Spirit, 
the Creator of all things.'^ 

*^And in one Lord Jesus Christ, his only Son, 
and express image of his substance, who took upon 
him flesh, and was in the world; and in life, doc- 
trine, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension, and 
mediation, perfectly did, and does continue to do, 
the will of God ; to whose holy life, power, media- 



WILLIAM PENN. 125 

tion, and blood, we only ascribe our sanctification, 
justification, redemption, and perfect salvation/' 

" And we believe in one Holy Spirit, that proceeds 
and breathes from the Father and the Son, a 
measure of which is given to all to profit with; 
and he that has one, has all ; for those Three are 
One, who is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the 
Last, God over all, blessed for ever, Amen.'' 



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126 BRIEF MEMOIR OP 



CHAPTER yil. 1695-1718. 

MARRIES H. CALLOWHILL — ACCOUNT OF SPRINGETT PENN — IN- 
TERVIEWS WITH THE CZAR REVISITS PENNSYLVANIA 

PENNSBURY MANOR — INTERESTING INCIDENTS — OPPOSES 

SLAVE TRADE THE COLONY PEACEABLE AND PROSPEROUS 

FOUNDING OF PUBLIC SCHOOL HIS PECUNIARY DIFFI- 
CULTIES INGRATITUDE OF OTHERS WITHDRAWS FOR A 

TEAR — MORTGAGES, AND OFFERS TO SELL, HIS PROVINCE 

HIS HEALTH DECLINES LONG FEEBLE STATE — DEATH, 

BURIAL, AND CHARACTER. 

We next find William Penn travelling as a minis- 
ter into tlie west of Euerland, and lioldins;; crowded 
religious meetings at Bristol, Wells, and other 
places; then petitioning Parliament to make the 
affirmation of Friends equivalent to an oath • and 
further prosecuting this object by attending the 
House of Commons on their behalf. 

In 1696, he married Hannah Callowhill, of Bris- 
tol, and soon after removed to that city. His wife 
was pious and judicious, and the connection contri- 
buted greatly to his comfort and advantage; but a 
severe trial soon followed, in the death of his eldest 
son, Springett Penn, a religious and very promising 
young man, then in his twenty-first year, of whose 
striking expressions and conduct in his last illness, 
the father has left the following, touching account : — 

" My very dear child and eldest son, Springett 
Penn, from his childhood, manifested a disposition to 



WILLIAM PENN. 127 

goodness, and gave me hope of a more than ordinary 
capacity; and time satisfied me in both respects. 
Besides a good share of learning, and especially of 
mathematical knowledge, he showed a judgment in 
the use and application of it, much above his years. 
He had the seeds of many good qualities rising in 
him, which made him beloved, and consequently 
lamented ; but, especially his humility, plainness, and 
truth ; with a tenderness and softness of nature, that 
if I may say it, were an improvement upon his other 
good qualities. And, though these were no security 
against sickness and death, yet they went a good way 
to facilitate a due preparation for them. Indeed, the 
good ground that w^as in him, showed itself very 
plainly sometime before his illness. For more than 
half a year before it pleased the Lord to visit him 
with weakness, he grew more retired, and much dis- 
engaged from youthful delights; showing a remark- 
able tenderness in meetings, even when they were 
silent. But, when he saw himself doubtful as to 
his recovery, he turned his mind and meditations 
more apparently towards the Lord; secretly, as also 
when those were in the room who attended upon 
him, praying often with great fervency to the Lord, 
and uttering many thankful expressions and praises 
to Him, in a very deep and sensible manner. One 
day he said to us, ' I am resigned to what God 
pleaseth; he knows what is best. I would live if it 
pleased him that I might serve him. But, Lord, 
not my will, but thy will be done.' 

^' One speaking to him of the things of this world, 



128 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

and what mioht please him when recovered ; he 
answered, ' My eye looks another way, where the 
truest pleasure is/ When he told me he had rested 
well, and I said it was a mercy to him, he quickly 
replied upon me, with a serious, yet sweet look, 
'All is mercy, dear father, every thing is mercy/ 
Another time, when I went to meeting, at part- 
ing, he said, ' Remember me, my dear father, 
before the Lord. Though I cannot go to meetings, 
yet I have many good meetings; the Lord comes ia 
upon my spirit ; I have heavenly meetings with him 
by myself/ 

" Not many days before he died, while alone, the 
Lord appeared by his holy power upon his spirit, and 
at my return, asking him how he did, he told me, 
' 0, I have had a sweet time, a blessed time ! Great 
enjoyments. The power of the Lord overcame my 
soul : a sweet time, indeed I' 

''On my telling him how some of the gentry who 
had been to visit him, were gone to their games, and 
sports and pleasures, and how little consideration the 
children of men had of God and their latter end ; 
and how much happier he was in this weakness, to 
have been otherwise educated, and to be preserved 
from those temptations to vanity, &c., he answered, 
' It is all stuff, my dear father : it is sad stuff. 
that I might live to tell them so !' ' Well, my dear 
child,' I replied, ' let this be the time of thy entering 
into secret covenant with God, that if he raise thee, 
thou wilt dedicate thy youth, strength, and life to 
him, and his people and service.' He returned, 



WILLIAM PENN. 129 

^ Father, that is not now to do; it is not now to do/ 
with great tenderness upon his spirit. 

^' Being almost ever near him, and doing any thing 
for him he wanted or desired, he broke out with 
much sense and love, ' My dear father, if I live, I 
will make thee amends/ And speaking to him of , 
Divine enjoyments, that the eye of man saw not, but 
the soul, made alive by the spirit of Christ, plainly 
felt; he, in a lively remembrance, cried out, 'I 
had a sweet time yesterday by myself ! the Lord hath 
preserved me to this day ! blessed be his name; 
my soul praises him for his mercy ! Father, it is of 
the goodness of the Lord, that I am as well as I am !^ 
Fixing his eyes upon his sister, he took her by the 
hand, saying, ' Poor Tishe, look to good thiogs ; poor 
child, there is no comfort without it. One drop of 
the love of God is worth more than all the world. 
I know it ; I have tasted it : I have felt as much, or 
more of the love of God in this weakness, than in all 
my life before.^ At another time, as I stood by him, 
he looked up upon me, and said, 'Dear father, sit by 
me, I love thy company, and I know thou lovest 
mine ; and if it be the Lord's will that we must part, 
be not troubled, for that will trouble me.' 

" Taking something one night in bed, just before 
going to rest, he sat up, and fervently prayed thus: 
' Lord God, thou whose Son said to his disciples, 
"Whatsoever ye ask in my name, ye shall receive; J 
pray thee, in His name, bless this to me this night, ' 
and give me rest, if it be thy blessed will, Lord V 
And, accordingly he had a very comfortable night, 



130 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

of which he took a thankful notice before us next 
day. 

''And when he, at one time, more than ordinarily, 
expressed a desire to live, and entreated me to pray 
for him ; he added, ' dear father, if the Lord should 
raise me and enable me to serve him and his people, 
then I might travel with thee sometimes, and we 
might ease one another (meaning in the ministry) : 
he spoke it with great modesty/ Upon which I said 
to him, ' my dear child, if it please the Lord to raise 
thee, I am satisfied it will be so ', and if not, then 
inasmuch as it is thy fervent desire in the Lord, he 
will look upon thee just as if thou didst live to serve 
him, and thy comfort will be the same : so either way 
it will be well. For, if thou shouldst not live, I do 
verily believe thou wilt have the recompense of thy 
good desires, without the temptations and troubles 
that would attend, if long life were granted to thee.' 

" Saying, one day, ' I am resolved I will have such 
a thing done;' he immediately catched himself, and 
fell into this reflection, with much contrition, 'Did I 
say, I will ? Lord, forgive me that irreverent and 
hasty expression ! I am a poor, weak creature, and 
live by thee, and, therefore, I should have said, ' If it 
pleaseth thee that I live, I intend to do so, or so/ 
Lord forgive my rash expression.' 

" Seeing my present wife ready to be helpful, and 
do any thing for him, he turned to her, and said, 
•Don't thou do so, let them; don't trouble thyself 
so much for such a poor creature as I am.' On her 
taking leave of him a few nights before his end, he 



W I L L I A M P E N N . lol 

said to her, ' Pray for me, dear mother : thou art 
good and innocent, it may be the Lord may hear thy 
prayers for me, for I desire my strength again, that 
I might live, and employ it more in the Lord's 
service.' 

" Two or three days before his departure, he called 
his brother to him, and looking awfully upon him, 
said, ' Be a good boy, and know there is a God, a 
great and mighty God, who is a rewarder of the 
righteous, and so is he of the wicked, but their re- 
wards are not the same. Have a care of idle people 
and idle company, and love good company and good 
Friends, and the Lord will bless thee : I have seen 
good things for thee since my sickness, if thou dost 
but fear the Lord. And, if I should not live, though 
the Lord is all sufficient, remember what I say to 
thee, when I am dead and gone : poor child, the 
Lord bless thee, come and kiss me !' Which melted 
us all into great tenderness, but his brother more 
particularly. 

'' Many good exhortations he gave to some of the 
servants, and others who came to see him, that were 
not of our communion, as well as those that were, 
which drew tears from their eyes. 

" The day but one before he died, he went to take 
the air in a coach ; but said, at his return, ' Ileally, 
father, I am exceedingly weak, thou canst not think 
how weak I am.' ' My dear child,' I replied, ' thou art 
weak, but God is strong, who is the strength of thy 
life :' ^Ay, that is it,' said he, ' which upholdeth me.* 
The day before he departed, being alone with him, 



132 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

he desired me to fasten the door ; and lookins; 
earnestly upon me, said, ' Dear father, thou art a dear 
father, and I know thy Father, come let us two have 
a little meeting, a private ejaculation together, now 
no body else is here. my soul is sensible of the 
love of God V And indeed a sweet time we had^ like 
to precious ointment for his burial. 

"He desired to go home, if not to live, to die 
there, and we made preparation for it, being twenty 
miles from my house; and so much stronger was his 
spirit than his body, that he spoke of going next day, 
which was the morning he departed ; and a symptom 
it was of his great journey to his longer home. That 
morning he left us, growing more and more sensible 
of his extreme weakness, he asked me, as doubtful 
of himself, ' How shall I go home ?' I told him in 
a coach • he answered, ' I am best in a coach. ^ But 
observing his decay, I said, ' Why child? thou art at 
home everywhere ;' 'Ay,' said he, ' so I am in the 
Lord.' I took that opportunity to ask him if I 
should remember his love to his friends at Bristol, 
London, &c. ' Yes, yes,' said he, 'my love in the 
Lord ; my love to all Friends in the Lord :' 'And 
relations too ?' he said, 'Ay, to be sure.' Being 
asked if he would have his ass' milk, or eat any 
thing ; he answered, ' No more outward food, but 
heavenly food is provided for me.' 

" His time drawing on apace, he said to me, 'My 
dear father, kiss me, thou art a dear father, I desire 
to prize it : how can I make thee amends ?' 

" He also called his sister^ and said to her, 'Poor 



WILLIAxM PENN. 133 

cnild; come and kiss me:' there seemed a tender and 
long farewell between them. I sent for his brother 
that he might kiss him too, which he did : all were 
in tears about him, and turning his head to me, he 
said, softly, ' Dear father, hast thou no hope for me V 
I answered, ' My dear child, I am afraid to hope, 
and I dare not despair ; but am, and have been re- 
siirned, thoufrh one of the hardest lessons I ever 
learned/ He paused awhile, and with a composed 
frame of mind, said, ' Come life, come death, I am 
resigned : the love of God overcomes my soul !' 
Feeling himself decline apace, and seeing him not 
able to bring up the matter that was in his throat, 
somebody fetched the doctor, but so soon as he came 
in, he said, ' Let my father speak to the doctor, and 
I will go to sleep; which he did, and waked no 
more/ breathing his last on my breast, the 10th day 
of the second month, between the hours of nine and 
ten in the morning, 1G96, in his one and twentieth 
year. 

" So ended the life of my dear child and eldest 
sou, much of my comfort and hope, and one of the 
most tt^nd&i and dutiful, as well as ingenuous and 
virtuous youths, I knew, if I may say so of my own 
dear child. In him I lost all that any father can 
lose in a child, since he was capable of any thing 
that became a sober young man ; my friend and com- 
panion, as well as most affectionate and dutiful child. 

" May this loss and end have its due weight and 
impression upon all his dear relations and friends, 
and those to whose hands this account may come, for 
12 



134 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

their remembrance and preparation for their great 
and last change ; and I shall have my end in making 
my dear child thus far public. 

" \YlLLIAM PeNN.'^ 

The Czar of Russia, afterwards called Peter the 
Great, having come to England to obtain useful 
knowledge of various kinds, William Penn and 
other Friends had interesting interviews with him ; 
with which the Czar evinced his satisfaction not 
only by his remarks, but by frequently attending the 
meetings for worship at Deptford and other places, 
and by marked attention, as occasions offered, to 
members of the Society. With two other Friends 
William Penn next paid a visit to Ireland, where he 
had a considerable estate requiring his superintend- 
ence; he also felt it his duty to labour in the spiritual 
vineyard of that island. Large meetings were held, 
in which he preached the truths of the gospel, many 
persons of distinction attending them. An interview 
with the bishop of Cork was satisfactory; but, sub- 
sequent alarm at the crowded meetings, induced the 
bishop to resort to magisterial authority, and to em- 
ploy his own pen, to counteract the influence of the 
doctrines preached. 

At length, after an absence of fifteen years, and 
many yearnings towards his friends in Pennsylvania, 
William Penn revisited the province in 1699, taking 
his wife and family with him. On this occasion, ho 
a2;ain wrote an excellent address to his children on 
their civil and religious conduct, as well as an in- 



WILLIAM PENN. 135 

structive farewell epistle to his friends, who gave him 
certificates of their esteem and full unity. The 
voyagers embarked at Cowes, and after a tedious 
passage of nearly three months, arrived safely at 
PhiladeljDhia, at a time when a malignant fever was 
prevailing in the country. The people welcomed him 
with marks of universal joy, hoping that he was 
come to spend the remainder of his days among 
them. The assembly soon met, and William Penn 
occupied his time, not only in his duties as governor, 
but in those of a gospel minister. 

His was a rare instance of Christian les-islation. 
Liberty of conscience was a chief corner-stone of the 
political edifice in his infant republic ; the reforma- 
tion of the offender became the first object of his 
criminal code. He united in himself two characters 
as a principal person in a visible Church, and as 
head of a state. Had an attempt, however, been 
made to transmit the union, after the manner of 
Europe, to succeeding generations, its utter failure 
would have soon become apparent; for his eldest sur- 
vivino; son, so far from iuheritino; his relioious 
character, caused him, in after years, much grief, by 
his gross misconduct and vicious excesses. 

A writer* of our own day, says, in allusion to the 
character of William Penn, '^ We should remember 
that the present times are profiting by the exertions 
of those generous spirits, for, in the progress of 
human affairs, mankind build in every subsequent 
age, on foundations formerly laid. What veneration 

* Deborah Logan. 



136 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

and respect must we acknowledge to be due to the 
man who, living at a period when the principles of 
civil and religious libercy had to contend for their 
existence, with a base and sordid despotism, volun- 
tarily stepped forth as their champion, and trium- 
phantly rescued, and handed down to us some of the 
proudest distinctions of his country. A man who 
spent his whole life, and all the means which he pos- 
sessed, in endeavouring to benefit mankind, and, 
finally, by exhibiting to the world a scheme of 
government, founded on the benevolent principles of 
Christianity, and which were administered by him- 
self in the same spirit, has shown by the un- 
exampled prosperity and success which has attended 
it, how consonant such principles are with the true 
interests of society. Is not a character, that effected 
such noble purposes, entitled to the gratitude and 
esteem of the latest posterity ?" 

The Grovernor and his family took up their re- 
sidence at his mansion of Pennsbury. 

This manor was situated in Bucks Co., about 
twenty-four miles above Philadelphia, on the river 
Delaware. It comprised upwards of GOOO acres of 
fertile soil, mostly covered with majestic forests. 
While in the possession of an Indian king, it had 
borne the name of Sepassin. 

The mansion was built in 1682—3, and was about 
sixty feet front, facing the river. It was two stories 
high, and of brick. On the first floor was a large 
hall, used on public occasions for the meetings of the 
council; and the entertainment of strangers and the 



WILLIAM PENN. 137 

Indians. A broad walk through an avenue of 
poplars led to the river. The house was surrounded 
bj gardens and lawns, and the more distant woods 
were opened in vistas, looking down the Delaware, 
and upwards towards the Falls of Trenton. 

These woods had been laid out in walks at the 
proprietary's first visit, and the preservation of the 
trees are enjoined in several of his letters. He sent 
out from England, walnuts, hawthorns, hazels, fruit 
trees, and a great variety of the rarest seeds and 
roots. While in this country he procured from 
Maryland several panniers of trees and shrubs, in- 
digenous in that province, and directed that the 
most beautiful wild flowers should be transplanted 
into his gardens. 

On the whole, his instructions indicate a love of 
nature, and an elegance of taste, which are very re- 
markable. Tradition relates, that on one occasion, 
when he made a feast for his red brethren, a lono- 
table was spread for them in the avenue leading 
from the house, which was shaded by poplars ) and 
among the viands provided were one hundred tur- 
keys, besides venison and other meats. 

The proprietor frequently visited on horseback the 
meetings of Friends, in Pennsylvania and New Jer- 
sey. On one of these visits, when going to Haver- 
ford, it is related, " that he overtook a little girl 
named Kebecca Wood, who was going afoot from 
Darby to attend the same meeting. - On comins 
up with her, he enquired where she was going, and 
being informed, he with his usual good nature de- 
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138 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

sired her to get up behind him, and bringing his 
horse to a convenient place she mounted, and so rode 
away on the bare back.'^ 

This incident affords a pleasing evidence of that 
kindness and condescension, which the governor 
manifested towards all classes of society. 

Tradition also informs us ^' that when he was 
visiting meetings in Pennsylvania, he lodged one 
night at Merion, where a boy about twelve years old, 
son of the person at whose house he lodged, being a 
lad of curiosity, and not often seeing such great men, 
privately crept to the chamber, up a flight of steps 
on the outside of the building. On peeping through 
the latchet hole, he was struck with awe in beholding 
this great man on his knees by the bed-side, and in 
hearing what he said ', for, he could distinctly hear 
him in prayer and thanksgiving, that he was then 
provided for in the wilderness/^ 

Among the various objects to which his attention 
was zealously directed, were the instruction and civili- 
zation of the Indian tribes, and the improvement of 
the condition of the African slaves ; for it was not in 
his power to prevent their being brought into the 
colony, The Friends there had already, at their 
Yearly Meetings in 1688 and 1696, declared the 
buying, selling, and holding of men in slavery, to be 
inconsistent with the Christian religion. This en- 
tirely agreed with the sentiments of the Governor 
and Council, but not with those of the Assembly; 
which, being composed of men of various characters. 
Degatived his measures for elevating the slaves' con- 



WILLIAM P E N N . 139 

dition. They concluded, after mucli demur, to raise 
the sum of two thousand pounds a year, for the ex- 
penses of the government. 

He spent about two years among his people, 
applying himself diligently to his various duties, 
"preferring the good of the country and its inhabi- 
tants to his own private interests ; rather remitting 
than rigorously exacting his lawful revenues ; so that, 
under the influence of his paternal administration, 
he left the province in an easy and a flourishing 
condition." 

The important subject of education had early 
claimed the care of William Penn, and of the 
Friends who had emigrated to Pennsylvania. A 
school was set up, in the privileges of which the poor, 
as well as the rich, were to participate. Perceiving 
the necessity of establishing this on an enlarged and 
permanent basis, a charter was granted by the pro- 
prietary in 1701, which was confirmed with some 
alterations and enlargement of powers, by two sub- 
sequent charters in 1708 and 1711. 

An extract from the preamble of the last charter 
will show the liberal views of the founders of the 
school : " Whereas, the prosperity and welfare of any 
people depend in a great measure upon the good 
education of youth, and their early instruction in the 
principles of religion and virtue, and qualifying 
them to serve their country and themselves by breed- 
ing them in reading, writing, and learning of lan- 
guages, and useful arts and sciences, suitable to their 
age, sex, and degree, which cannot be efiected in any 



140 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

manner so well as by erecting public schools for the 
purposes aforesaid; and, whereas, &g." 

William Penn directed that the seal of this corpo- 
ration * should have for its inscription, ''Good In- 
struction is better than Riches/' 

Under the charter several schools were subse- 
quently established, in which the course of instruc- 
tion was liberal and comprehensive. A classical 
school was carefully maintained under some of the 
best teachers of their time, and a vigilant supervision 
was exercised by those Friends who were chosen 
overseers. 

By a reference to the minutes of the corporation 
some years later, we find that instructions were 
given to the teachers, " that the foremost of the 
pupils should be required to give in writing the 
most elegant translations of the Latin authors they 
have read, whether prose or verse, that their capacity 
will allow; as by this practice they will more 
strongly impress upon their memories the language 
and subjects they are reading, improve their hand- 
writing, style, and spelling, learn readily to write 
their native language correctly ^nd with elegance, 
invite them to read history in English, give them a 
relish for the best English authors, and induce them 
to an imitation of their style and sentiments, when 
they come to be exercised in composing English 

* This corporate body still continues in Philadelpliia, 
and has under its care nine good schools, in which, without 
any sectarian preferences, the poor of the city are taught 
gratis, and those who are able to pay, at reasonable rates. 



WILLIAM PENN. 141 

themes, or upon anj- occasion in public or private 
life." 

While the founders of the religious society of 
Friends fully recognized the importance of all useful 
and liberal learning, to prepare their youth for the 
performance of their duties, as good citizens of the 
community in which they might live, they were at 
the same time fully aware of the primary necessity 
of training their youth in true religion, and in the fear 
of Gods On this subject, George Fox says, in a 
letter addressed to the Society in 1683, " It is desired 
that all Friends that have children, families, and 
servants, may train them up in the pure and un- 
spotted religion, and in the nurture and fear of God, 
and that frequently they read the Holy Scriptures. 
And exhort and admonish them that every family 
apart, may serve and worship the Lord, as well as in 
public." In unison with this, we have also a treatise 
of William Penn, entitled : — 

^' Christian Discipline, or certain good and ivhole- 
some Orders, for the luell governing of my family 
in a right Christian conversation, as becometh the 
Children of the Light and Truth of the most 
High God. Divided into Two Parts. By 
William Fenn.^' 

From which the following extract is taken : — 

" 'Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in 
sincerity and in truth ; and put away the gods which 
your fathers served beyond the flood and in Egypt, 



142 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

and serve the Lord : and if it seem evil unto you to 
serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will 
serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served 
(that were beyond the flood) or the gods of the Amo- 
rites, in whose land ye dwell ; but, as for me and my 
house, we will serve the Lord/ " — Josii. xxiv. 14, 15. 

^'1. — As it becometh us, to whom is made known 
the only wise, invisible, and omnipotent God, and 
that heavenly, spiritual worship, which only pleasetli 
Him, — always to retain Him in our knowledge with 
all due fear, godly reverence and sincere obedience- 
so more especially it is my appointment in the 
heavenly authority, as a Christian master of my 
family, that all in it, and of it, who profess the 
Truth with me, do meet and assemble every morn- 
ing, with all humility and godly fear, to wait upon 
the Almighty God or Creator, and to receive and 
enjoy his living mercies and refreshing presence; 
that, being sanctified by Him, we may hallow His 
name, and return the praise which is due to him 
from men and angels for ever. 

"2. — That everyday about the eleventh hour, 
(unless diverted by extraordinary occasions, which is 
also intended and excepted of every time herein 
appointed), all come together again ; and every one 
in his turn, read either the Scriptures of Truth, or 
some martyrology. 

'^ 3. — That the same practice be observed about 
the sixth hour in the evening; to the end, that we 
may be stirred up to abhor the actions of evil doers. 



WILLIAM PENN. 143 

and to embrace and follow the example of patience, 
zeal, holiness, and constancy in the righteous, who 
only were and are of the flock and family of God. 

''4. — That those days which are appointed to 
meet publicly to worship God upon, none on any 
pretence (being in health, and not unavoidably en- 
gaged to the contrary) neglect going to such meetings; 
— but that they constantly and timely attend and 
frequent the same, as becometh a family fearing the 
Lord, and that is zealous for his living Truth. 

" 5. — That there be a watch kept over every 
mind, so as that it may not err from the counsel of 
God, and the weighty government of his holy truth, 
in whatsoever it is exercised about ; lest darkness and 
deadness come over it, and the evil one enter, to sow 
all manner of evil seeds, as strife, envy, evil watch- 
ings, levity, pride, and such like : the latter end of 
such is worse than their beginning.^^ 

Taking leave of the colonists and the Indians, 
William Penn embarked for England in the autumn 
of 1701, and after a voyage of six weeks landed 
at Portsmouth. 

Oa Queen Anne's accession to the throne, he oc- 
casionally attended her Court, the Queen being 
favourable to him, and interested by his conversation 
on American affairs. His return home had been 
hastened by a report that the colonies were to be 
transferred to the royal government ; but this was 
soon dispelled. His accounts from Pennsylvania 
were, however, painful. The Assembly showed their 



144 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

contumacy even more than before, and disagreed 
with the local government; refusing the supplies 
which were really due and necessary to the Governor 
in return for his generosity, and for large outlays 
which he could ill afford. 

As long as William Penn lived, and for the greater 
part of a century from the first foundation of the 
colony, the government was conducted in its various 
departments without administering an oath ; the 
constable's staff was the only instrument of authorit}'-, 
and soldiers were not employed in the province; 
while all the religious bodies dwelt together on equal 
terms. What an example is here afforded to Euro- 
pean states ! 

William Penn again visited as a minister some of 
the western counties of England, where his re- 
ligious services were effectual to the spiritual ad- 
vancement of some, and to the restoration of others. 
His pen also was often employed in the cause of 
truth and righteousness. His trials in pecuniary 
matters however increased, and greatly embittered 
his declining years. To various persons he had 
behaved with great generosity, but it was in many 
instances ill-requited ; his remittances from the 
colony, on which he had expended twenty thousand 
pounds, and where private wealth was rapidly accu- 
mulating, were very scanty aud much in arrear, 
though he earnestly intreated punctual payment to 
meet his own requirements. In fact, he seems to 
have supported the government, instead of being 
supported by it. His extensive undertakings and 



WILLIAM PENN. 145 

wide spread liberality liad exceeded his means. An 
unsuspecting disposition had also laid him open to 
fraud. The executors of Ford, his steward, in 
whom he had placed implicit, but mistaken con- 
fidence, made heavy and very unjust demands upon 
him; an expensive lawsuit, and an appeal to the 
Court of Chancery followed ; and, at length, obtain- 
ing no redress, in order to avoid the enforcement of 
those demands, he was under the painful necessity 
of again secluding himself, and living for about a 
year within the rules of the Fleet. From this he 
was relieved only by mortgaging his province to some 
of his friends for six thousand six hundred pounds. 

" Throughout the whole of this vexatious and 
humiliating business, he exercised the patience and 
fortitude of the true Christian, whose affections are 
fixed not on earthly but on heavenly things, and the 
beautiful remark of Isaac Norris, seemed applicable 
to him, '' God darkens this world to us, that our 
eyes may behold the greater brightness of his 
kingdom.'^ * 

His health now began to fail ; yet he still went oc- 
casionally to Whitehall, and continued some of his 
active pursuits. He had latterly resided at or near 
Kensington ; he now retired to Ruscombe, in Berk- 
shire. In 1711 he published his last production; 
which, though only a preface to the writings of his 
friend John Banks, and dictated as he walked up 
and down the room with a cane in his hand, carries 
its own evidence as the production of a master mind, 

* Janney's Life of Penn. 
13 



146 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

rich in intelligence and Christian experience. In tlie 
next year, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an 
Act to prevent the importation of negroes^ but the 
home government annulled the measure. He now 
concluded to sell his province to the Queen, and 
twelve thousand pounds was the price agreed on; 
but, before the transfer could be made, he had 
several paralytic seizures, which prevented it from 
being completed. 

For some years he remained in a very feeble state 
of body and mind, yet full of childlike innocence and 
love, often attending his own meeting, and some- 
times ministering in it " with the spirit, and with 
the understanding also.'' 

About this time Thomas Story visited him, and 
says, '^ When I went to his house I thought myself 
strong enough to see him in that condition ; but 
when I entered the room and perceived the great 
defect of his expression for want of memory, it 
greatly bowed my spirit under a consideration of the 
uncertainty of all human qualifications; and what 
the finest of men are soon reduced to by a disorder 
of the organs of that body, with which the soul is 
connected and acts during this present state of being. 
When these are a little obstructed in their various 
functions, a man of the clearest parts, and finest 
expression, becomes scarcely intelligible. Neverthe- 
less, no insanity or lunacy at all appeared in his 
actions, and his mind was in an innocent state, as 
appeared by his very loving deportment to all that 
came near him. And that he had a good sense of 



WILLIAM P E N N , 147 

tnith "was plain by some very clear sentences lie 
spoke in the life and power of truth, in an evening 
meeting we had there; wherein, we were greatly 
comforted, so that I was ready to think this was a 
sort of sequestration of him from all the concerns of 
this life, which so much oppressed him; not in 
judgment, but in mercy, that he might not be op- 
pressed thereby to the end." 

To some friends, who had paid him a visit and 
were about to leave, he said, ^' My love is with you, 
the Lord preserve you and remember me, in the 
everlasting covenant." His faithful wife was his 
judicious helper and affectionate attendant. In the 
year 1718, he peacefully closed his interesting, 
honourable, and laborious life, in the seventy-fourth 
year of his age. 

In the testimony concerning William Penn, issued 
by the Monthly Meeting of Friends, for Berkshire, 
England, a few months after his deceas3, is the fol- 
lowins: tribute to his character. 

" Being a member of our monthly meeting at the 
time of his decease, and for some years before, we 
can do no less than say something of the character 
of so worthy a man; and not only refer to other 
meetings, where his residence was in former times, 
who are witnesses of the great self-denial he under- 
went in the prime of his youth, and the patience 
with which he bore many a heavy cross; but, think 
it our duty to cast in our mite, to set forth in part 
his deserved commendation." 

"He was a man of great abilities, of an excellent 



148 ■ BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

sweetness of disposition; quick of thought and of 
ready utterance ; full of the qualifications of true dis- 
cipleship, even love without dissimulation ; as exten- 
sive in charity as comprehensive in knowledge, and 
to whom malice and ingratitude were utter strangers 
. — ready to forgive enemies, and the ungrateful were 
not excepted." 

Had not the management of his temporal affairs 
been attended with some deficiencies, envy itself 
would be, to seek for matter of accusation ; and, judg- 
ing in charity, even that part of his conduct may be 
attributed to a peculiar sublimity of mind, notwith- 
standing which he may without straining his charac- 
ter be ranked among the learned, good and great; 
whose abilities are sufiiciently manifested throughout 
his elaborate writings, which are so many lasting 
monuments of his admired qualifications, and are 
the esteem of learned and judicious men among all 
persuasions. 

''And, although in old age, by reason of some 
shocks of a violent disease, his intellect was much 
impaired, yet his sweetness and loving disposition 
surmounted its utmost efforts, and remained when 
reason almost failed. 

"In fine, he was learned without vanity; apt 
without forwardness ; facetious in conversation, yet 
weighty and serious ; of an extraordinary greatness 
of mind, yet void of the stain of ambition ; as free 
from rigid gravity as he was clear of unseemly levity; 
a man — a scholar — a friend ; whose memorial will be 
valued by the wise, and blessed with the just." 



WILLIAM PENN. 149 

^^A TESTIMONY OF FRIENDS IN PENNSYLVANIA, 
CONCERNING THEIR DECEASED FRIEND AND GOVER- 
NOR; WILLIAM PENN. 

" We find ourselves under obligation and concern, 
both in duty and affection, to give this mark of our 
love, and the honourable regard we bear to the 
memory of our late worthy Governor, and well- 
beloved friend William Penn ; though it may not be 
our part to attempt so ample and general a testimony 
as seems justly called for, by his early convincement 
of the blessed Truth, his noble resignation there- 
unto, his steadfastness therein, and great services to 
the Church of Christy as well by incessant labours 
in word and doctrine, (made more extensive by the 
many excellent writings he hath published), as his 
valiant sufferings for purity of worship, and the tes- 
timonies he had received, which to him might be the 
greater trial and conflict, his birth and station in the 
world placing him more in the notice of those of 
high rank amongst men, than was commonly the lot 
of many others of our worthy elders. Neither can 
it, we presume, be forgotten, how, when it pleased 
the Lord to give some ease to his people, this our 
dear friend employed the interest he then had with 
success, and devoted his time and purse to serve, 
not only his friends in their religious liberties, but 
them and others distressed, or any wanting favour, 
even to the neglect of his own just interest. But 
these memorials we leave to be made by those of our 
13* 



150 BRIEF MEMOIR OP 

worthy elders in Great Britain, who have more in- 
stances and greater knowledge of those his trials, 
services, and labours, than many of us can be pre- 
sumed to be so fully acquainted with. 

" Yet it becomes us particularly to say, that as he 
was our Grovernor, he merited from us love, and true 
honour, and we cannot but have the same regard to 
his memory, when we consider the blessings and ease 
we have enjoyed under his government; and are 
rightly sensible of his care, affection, and regard, 
always shown with anxious concern for the safety 
and prosperity of the people, who, many of them, 
removed from comfortable livings to be adventurers 
with him — not so much with views of better acquisi- 
tions, or greater riches, but the laudable prospect of 
retired, quiet habitations for themselves and posterity, 
and the promotion of truth and virtue in the earth. 
And, as his love was great and endeavours constant 
for the happiness of his friends, countrymen, and 
fellow-subjects, so was his great tenderness, justice, 
and love towards the Indians, from first to last, 
always conspicuous and remarkable. Here we can- 
not but gratefully and humbly acknowledge to the 
gracious God of all our mercies, the wonderful pre- 
servation of this colony from such injuries and bar- 
barous depredations as have befallen most others; 
and add that we believe the same love wherewith the 
Lord had so fully and effectually prevailed on the 
heart of this our worthy friend, was the chief and 
durable motive of his affection and kind behaviour to- 
wards those people ; and was the cause, as he was made 



WILLIAM PENN. 151 

a means, of tliis our peace and preservation; so that 
his name remains precious, even amongst tlie heathens. 

^' More might be truly said of him as he was the 
proprietary and governor of this province ; and we 
now find it our duty, (incited thereto by the love of 
our Heavenly Father in our souls) to add a few lines 
concerning him, as he was our worthy elder, friend, 
and brother in the blessed Truth ', many of us having 
been often comforted, edified, and solaced with him 
in the enjoyment thereof. As was his testimony, so 
was his conversation, — edifying and lovely, adminis- 
tering grace and knowledge. His behaviour was 
sweet and engaging, and his condescension great, 
even to the weakest and meanest; affable and of easy 
access ; tender of every person and thing that had 
simplicity of truth, or honesty for a foundation. 

" It was our comfort to understand, that after all 
his various troubles, trials, and afflictions, when, in 
an advanced age, infirmity of body, and a distemper 
which afiected his memory in most other things 
which befell him,, yet the love of God remained with 
him, and his sense thereof was frequently strong 
and evident, and, we doubt not, the blessing of the 
Almighty was his Omega. 

" So that we have assured hope, those afflictions 
being put off with his mortal body, immortality is 
given him by our Lord Jesus, and, as he faithfully 
bore the cross, the crown, which was his hope, and 
long since in his eye, is his possession ; and his soul 
received into that bliss prepared and appointed for 
the righteous. 



152 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

" Signed at tlie time of our General Meeting, held 
in Philadelpliia, the 16th of first month, 1718-19/' 

The last decline, and death and burial of this 
venerable man are thus pathetically described* by 
H. Colquhoun, a modern writer, who has shown a 
greater desire than some others to do justice to his 
memory. '■'■ Gently did the Master whom he had 
served guide his sinking servant through five years 
of decaj — so gently that the children who loved, and 
the friends who tended him, watched with chastened 
sorrow, not unmixed with pleasure, the moral radi- 
ance, which, in life's sunset, lingered round the 
mental ruin. In 1718 came release. [At Jordans] 
in a quiet hamlet of Buckinghamshire, by the side 
of his first and much loved wife, and of the son 
whom he had lost, the great philanthropist was laid 
to rest ; among a concourse, not of Quakers only and 
neighbours, but of men from all parts of England, 
drawn together by the fame of so many virtues, and 
the wish to do them homage. A few words were 
spoken by those who knew him, to the throng who 
had heard of his merits 3 and they laid him in the 
grave, which closed over great services, and an il- 
lustrious name. No stone was set to mark the spot ; 
but the name and services of Penn are written, in 
the durable monument of religious toleration which 
he secured, in the unwearying integrity which he 
practised, and in the institutions of one of those 
great states in the western world, which now exercise 
so wide an influence over the destiny of mankind." 
* " Short Sketches of some notable Lives." 



WILLIAM PENN. 153 

CHAPTER yill. 

THE CALUMNIOUS CHAKGES OF MACAULAY AGAINST PENN. 

In a former chapter, allusion was made to false 
cliarges, which, in our own time, have been made 
against William Penn. So often has it been the lot 
of good men to be misrepresented, and yet, so gene- 
rally does history vindicate sooner or later the great 
benefactors of the race, that these accusations might, 
perhaps, be safely left to be refuted by the admitted 
facts of Penn's eventful life, or by his undeniable 
characteristics. They form, however, a feature, in 
what claims to be a model of historical composition, 
and is unquestionably a work of genius. The vast 
circulation of Macaulay's volumes, must bring his 
statements under the notice of many who may have 
little opportunity to test their truth ; his unscrupulous 
persistence in calumny will have weight with some ; 
while, in all ages, there are unhappily those who, 
weary of hearing the praise of good men, would 
gladly excuse their own faults by dwelling on the 
imputed errors of the great teachers of mankind. It 
seems, therefore, desirable, as briefly as possible, to 
review the efforts made by Macaulay to destroy the 
well earned reputation of William Penn. 

Passing by vague and general assertions, which are 
not attempted to be proven, it is proposed to notice 
the specific charges in the order in which they occur. 



154 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

The first is the statement in reference to the fines 
imposed on the school girls at Taunton, who, under 
the direction of their teacher, and unconscious of 
crime, presented a standard to the Duke of Mon- 
mouth durino' his rebellion. The maids of honour 
to the Queen, having, in accordance with a barba- 
rous usage of that court, obtained an interest in the 
fines to be wrung from these poor children, employed 
an agent to make the most profitable composition 
with their parents. Macaulay affirms positively, that 
"William Penn accepted this agency, and proceeds to 
assign imaginary excuses, which he may have made 
to himself for so shameful a course. The only 
evidence which he adduces to prove his assertion, is 
a letter from the Secretary of State, addressed to 
^' Mr. Penne," stating the wish of the maids of 
honour to employ him for this purpose. There is 
not one word of testimony to show that William 
Penn accepted this agency; it is not known that any 
one except Macaulay ever charged him with having 
had any part in the business — and, there is no good 
reason to suppose, that he was ever asked to take 
such part. There was then living a certain George 
Penne, whose character fitted him for such employ- 
ment, who was notoriously engaged as a ^' pardon 
broker," and who was no doubt the person addressed 
by Sunderland — his name was spelt as in the letter, 
with the final ^' e." William's Penn's name, well- 
known to the Secretary, and familiar through his 
father, the Admiral, to all persons in official station, 
was not so spelt. A cotemporary historian, Old- 



WILLIAM PENN. 155 

mixon, who lived within a few miles of Taunton, 
speaks of some of the circumstances as having been 
within his own knowledge, and mentions expressly 
the names of the agent, and the sub-agent employed 
in this business, the former a popish lawyer, and the 
latter a resident of the town, in which the narrator 
lived. Macaulay quotes Oldmixon as authority for 
a part of the story, but conceals the fact that he 
mentions the real actors in a nefarious business, 
which he was determined should be charged on 
William Penn. 

The next allegation is, that William Penn was 
actuated by a strong attraction for exhibitions, which 
humane men generally avoid. The criminal code 
which the Legislator of Pennsylvania established in 
his colony, from which capital punishment was ex- 
cluded, except for the crime of murder, might have 
caused a less prejudiced writer, to hesitate before 
charging Penn with a want of humanity. The 
occasion for this allegation, was the presence of 
William Penn, at the execution of two persons 
cruelly put to death, for having humanely afforded 
shelter to some of those engaged in the rebellion. 
The real motive which influenced him, has been 
given by Clarkson, on the authority of Bishop 
Burnett, who was no friend of Penn; it was to 
enable him to make a true report to the King, and 
the more efficiently to remonstrate with him against 
these vindictive punishments. Again, we are told, 
that the King desiring to win over the dissenters, 
nominated William Kiffin, an influential baptist, to 



156 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

be an alderman of London. This man, wliose two 
grandsons had been executed for alleged complicity 
in the rebellionj regarded the existing government 
with abhorrence, and earnestly sought to avoid the 
proposed honor. Macaulay alleges, in his text, 
that William Penn, '' was employed in the work of 
seduction, but to no purpose,'^ and refers in a note 
to two authorities, one of which does not allude to 
Penn, and the other is the statement of Kiffin, that 
he had himself sought William Penn's influence to 
be excused from serving. 

The manly course which Penn pursued in the case 
of the arbitrary proceeding of James, towards the 
fellows of Magdalen College, has been made the 
occasion by Macaulay of the grossest misrepresenta- 
tion, and the most bitter reproach. 

He affirms that the agency of Penn was employed 
"to terrify, caress, or bribe the fellows into submis- 
sion ;'' he is said to have become "a broker in 
simony,'' and he is assumed without any adequate 
reason, and indeed, against all probability, to be the 
author of an anonymous letter, commencing with 
" Sir," and ending with " Your affectionate servant," 
while a contemporaneous entry on an official copy of 
the letter, expressly states, "Mr. Penn disowned 
this." 

The facts are, that William Penji- being at Oxford, 
when the King visited the place, found him greatly 
irritated, because the fellows had chosen Dr. Hough, 
President of the College, instead of the Bishop of 
Oxford, who was recommended by James, and was 



WILLIAM PENN. 157 

strongly suspected of Popery. He had tlireatened 
extreme violence, and justified the alarm which his 
language created by his subsequent acts. William 
Penn called on the fellows, hoping that some con- 
cession might be practicable; but when he heard 
their statements, he magnanimously wrote to the 
King on their behalf, stating, " that their case was 
hard,'^ that " they could not yield without a breach 
of their oaths, and that such mandates [as the King's] 
were a force upon conscience.'^ Some time after 
one of the fellows received an anonymous letter, 
which he thought fit to attribute to William Penn, 
and to him he addressed a reply. He acknowledged 
Penn's former kind interference in behalf of the 
College, and plead his well-known employment of 
time in doing good to mankind, and using his credit 
with the King for the benefit of those who might 
have been misrepresented to him, as reasons for asking 
his mediation with James. Whether AVilliam Penn 
replied to this letter, is not known ; we only know 
that he disavowed the authorship of that which had 
occasioned it. Some time after, a deputation from 
the fellows visited William Penn at Windsor — an 
account of what passed, is extant in a letter from 
Dr. Hough, the newly-elected President. It is upon 
this paper that Macaulay founds his severest charges 
against Penn ; and how shamefully he has tortured 
it to effect his purpose, the following statement, the 
result of an able examination of the document by 
the late Editor of the Tablet, will show : — 

"Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as employed to 
1-i 



158 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

solicit the fellows ; Dr. Hougli represents the fellows 
as coming to solicit him. 

" Mr. Macaulay says that, after many professions 
of friendship, Penn ' began to hint at a compromise ;' 
Dr. Hough says, ' he did not so much as offer at any 
proposal by way of accommodation, which was the 
thing I most dreaded.' 

'^ Mr. Macaulay makes his readers believe that the 
topics urged by Penn, were urged to persuade them 
to compromise; Dr. Hough describes them as used 
to convince the fellows that there was little hope of 
success from his intercession. 

^' Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as trying to 
overcome the scruples of the fellows to the commis- 
sion of perjury; Dr. Hough represents him as ad- 
mitting that the fellows gave satisfactory answers to 
his ^objections.' 

" Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as talking the 
merest drivel, relying solely on James's moderation, 
and willing to give the ' Papists' two or three 
colleges in mere wanton injustice ; Dr. Hough (most 
unwillingly) shows that Penn thought the ^ Papists' 
had a i'vA\t to two or three collesfes, and believed 
they would abstain from further demands, because it 
would be dangerous to ask for more. 

" Mr. Macaulay describes the result of the inter- 
view as the ' breaking off of a negotiation' by the 
fellows ; Dr. Hough describes it as the concession of 
a favour by Penn. 

" In short, in every part of it, in general and in 
detail, no version of the interview could be imagined 



WILLIAM PENN. 159 

or invented; more remote from the truth than that 
given by Mr. MacauLay. It is true, that when 
somebody mentioned the Bishop of Oxford's indis- 
position, Penn ' smiling/ asked the fellows how they 
would like Hough to be made a Bishop. This 
remark, made as a joke, answered by Mr. Cradock as 
a joke, and even by Dr. Hough, who answered it 
more seriously — ^not taken as an ' offer at any proposal 
by way of accommodation' — this casual piece of 
jocosity — picked out of a three hours' conversation — 
reported by one interlocutor without the privity of 
the other — and, if taken seriously, at variance with 
every other part of the conversation, and unconnected 
with its general tenor, is gravely brought forward as 
a proof that a man, otherwise honest, deliberately in- 
tended to use ' simony' as a bait to tempt a divine to 
what both parties knew to be 'perjury.' 

" If Mr. Macaulay were Crown counsel, arguing 
for Penn's conviction before a common jury, such a 
' point' would be too gross even for the license of the 
Old Bailey. But, if this be admitted as a canon, 
not of the venal advocate, but of the grave historian, 
who, by virtue of his function, is bound to judicial 
soberness and impartiality, what help is there for the 
characters of honest men. 

" Surely, then, an examination into the true facts 
of this Oxford business, makes it not unjust to Mr. 
Macaulay to assert, that his charges against Penn of 
< intimidation,' of being a ' broker in simony of a 
peculiarly discreditable kind,' of endeavours 'to 
tempt a divine to perjury,' to 'terrify or bribe' men 



160 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

to forsake ' tlie path of right/ are all groundless ^ 
that his statement, that even in the first instance he 
was employed by the Court, is unproved -, and that 
the impression given, that he was its agent in the 
last and most important interview, is the very reverse 
of the truth ; the requests for his intercession, which 
(says Forster) his reputation for ' doing good to man- 
kind,' and honest struggles to 'undeceive' the King, 
induced such men as Bailey to make to him, being 
construed, as in the case of Kiffin, into attempts on 
his part to seduce and efibrts to frighten. 

" It would be hard to find any other history, in 
which the very virtues of a man are thus twisted 
into grounds for the most injurious attacks upon his 
character." 

It has frequently been charged upon William 
Penn, and Macaulay renewed the allegation, that, 
in his '^ intemperate" zeal for religious liberty, he 
had supported the King in attempting to rule with- 
out the aid of Parliament. But there is positive 
evidence, well known to Macaulay, which proves that 
the reverse was the truth. '' Penn," says Sir James 
Mackintosh, quoting contemporary authority, " de- 
sired a Parliament as the only mode of establishing 
toleration without subverting the laws/' and in the 
Yearly Meeting's Address to the King, on the occa- 
sion of his " Christian Declaration for liberty of con- 
science," which was presented by William Penn, 
it was expressly stated, that they looked " to such a 
concurrence from Parliament, as may secure it to 
their posterity in after times." 



WILLIAM PENN. 161 

On a review of William Penn's whole conduct, in 
connection with King James, it is perfectly clear, 
that he abetted the Court in no act of cruelty or 
injustice, conspired with it in no effort to despoil 
the established Church of England, but used all his 
influence, and even plainly remonstrated with the 
King against such acts, and such efforts ; that while 
he wrote and laboured assiduously for the promotion 
of civil and religious liberty, he earnestly advocated its 
establishment by authority of law, and not by an un- 
constitutional edict of the monarch. It is also 
clearly proven, that his modern traducer, while care- 
fully selecting, and greatly misconstruing, such pas- 
sages as might in this way be made to injure Penn's 
character, has as carefully declined to notice others 
which clearly establish his innocence, even when 
quoting such authorities for other purposes. 

It remains to notice those statements which have 
reference to the alleged efforts of William Penn to 
replace James on the throne of England. Our review 
of the absurd charges which Macaulay has reproduced 
under this head, will be brief. If true, they involve 
a total abnegation by Penn, of principles, to the pro- 
motion of which he had given himself from his 
youth, for which he had suffered the severance of 
the closest family ties, had undergone severe im- 
prisonment, had sacrificed his fortune, and had 
perilled his life. Had clear historical evidence sub- 
stantiated these charges, we would have been, how- 
ever reluctantly, obliged to confess that one of the 
noblest contributions to the cause of morals, of 
1-i* 



162 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

liberty and religion, wliich the world has yet wit- 
nessed, was made by a man, who, ere he had passed 
middle life, had basely abandoned the cause which 
he had espoused, and turned back again with singular 
avidity into the paths of folly and of vice. The 
world has yet to witness a more astounding fall from 
purity, and true nobility of character, to the grossest 
depravity combined with consummate hypocrisy, 
than that which is presented in the life of the 
Founder of Pennsylvania, if Macaulay be a truthful 
historian. Happily for the cause of truth, virtue, 
and human progress, their enemy is not Penn, but 
his assailant. 

In his third and fourth volumes, Macaulay has 
charged William Penn with being one of a band of 
conspirators to restore King James, by the aid of the 
French army. On this charge Penn had been tried 
before the Privy Council, at a time when popular 
prejudice was against him, on account of his former 
intimacy with James, and acquitted. But this does 
not satisfy our scrupulous historian. He rests his 
allegation upon the confession of one of the conspi- 
rators. This man, Preston, we are told, named Penn 
as one of his associates in the plot; and, upon his 
evidence, warrants were issued against him. Happily, 
the historian most effectually discredits his only wit- 
ness, when he tells us what sort of a person he was. 
It appears, from this statement, that he was con- 
victed of treason, and under sentence of death ; had 
witnessed the execution of a fellow conspirator, who 
refused to make a confession ; was promised that his 



WILLIAM P E N N . 163 

life should be spared, if he would make disclosures; 
that he was wholly unmanned by his situation ; that 
the struggle between " pride, conscience, and party 
spirit,'^ on the one side, and " intense love of life," 
on the other, was severe ; that under the stimulus of 
wine, he was bold in refusing to confess, but weak 
and wavering, when the excitement was passed ; that 
he " wrote a confession every forenoon when sober, 
and burned it every night when merry." '' The fatal 
hour drew nigh, and the fortitude of Preston gave 
way." He made his pretended disclosures, was re- 
leased, and retired to pass the rest of his life with 
"blighted fame, and a broken heart." If it were 
needful to disprove the evidence given under such 
circumstances, by a witness so utterly discredited by 
the historian himself, it would be quite sufficient to 
revert to the subsequent acquittal of Penn after trial, 
and to the remarkable fact, that not one of the par- 
ties named by Preston suffered further inconvenience 
from his allegations against them, than restraint so 
brief, as clearly to show, that the government placed 
no reliance upon the testimony of the witness. 

When examined at his own request before the 
Privy Council on this charge, William Penn declared 
himself a faithful subject to William and Mary, pro- 
testing, as in the Divine presence, that he knew no 
plot, unless the projects of the French government 
might be such. With a levity not unworthy of the 
folly of his assertion, Macaulay calls this telling 
something very like a lie, "and confirming it by 
something very like an oath/^ Having completely 



164 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

discredited his only authority for a statement at 
variance with Penn's honest declaration, the his- 
torian's charge of falsehood needs no further refuta- 
tion, while a reverent affirmation of the truth, as in 
the Divine presence, was, as is well known, not es- 
teemed by W. Penn, or his contemporaries, to par- 
take of the character of an oath. 

There are few things more remarkable than the 
fact, that when Macaulay brings a serious charge 
against William Penn, he almost invariably relies 
upon authority, the value of which he himself else- 
where utterly destroys. In his fourth volume, he 
gravely tells, that no sooner had William Penn been 
acquitted of the charges brought against him, than 
he sent a message to King James, earnestly exhort- 
ing him to invade England with 30,000 men. For 
this assertion, he gives two authorities : one is a 
paper drawn up at St. Germains, under the direction 
of Melfort; the other is Avaux, the representative 
of the French King in the camp of James, when he 
invaded Ireland. Statements so difficult of belief, 
would seem to require at least one responsible wit- 
ness., and a severe examination. Taking his own 
estimate of his authorities for these grave charges, 
we are forced to the conclusion, that they have been 
made without the testimony of a single credible 
witness, and with inconceivable recklessness. 

Melfort, he tells us, " was an apostate, he was 
believed to be an insincere apostate;" again, Mel- 
fort, it is said, " was a renegade, he was a mortal 
enemy of his country ; he was of a bad and tyranni- 



WILLIAM r E N N . 165 

cal nature;'^ '' the abhorrence of England and Scot- 
laud/^ Speaking of some intercepted letters, he 
says, "they proved to be from Melfort, and were 
worthy of him — every line indicated those qualities 
which made him the abhorrence of his country;" 
and, in another place, he charges him with " a cer- 
tain audacious baseness which no Eno-lish statesman 
could emulate.' ' If we test the value of the evidence 
borne by Avaux, it is equally worthless. 

There is some question whether the statement of 
the man warrants the conclusions drawn from it. 
But, if it does, inasmuch as William Penn had a 
few months before declared, that '' he never had the 
wickedness to think of endeavouring to restore" 
James to the throne of England, it is simply a 
question of veracity between Penn and Avaux, en- 
dorsed by Macaulay. But, the latter has but a few 
pages before, given us his opinion of his own witness. 
"It is not too much to say that, of the difference 
between right and wrong, Avaux had no more notion 
than a brute ; one sentiment was to him in the place 
of religion and morality, a superstitious and intolerant 
devotion to the crown which he served. This senti- 
ment pervades all his despatches, and gives a colour 
to all his thoughts and words. '^ In a question, 
then, of truthfulness, between William Penn and 
the Count of Avaux, few will probably hesitate. 
But, it is more difficult to determine the precise 
position on the scale of morals of that writer, who 
dares to pollute the stream of history with the fecu- 



166 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

lence of one, whom he had himself ranked in moral 
sensibility with the brutes. 

We cannot better conclude this little volume, than 
by inserting the following eloquent and instructive 
passages from the pamphlet, which has supplied the 
larger portion of the material for this chapter.* 

Speaking of William Penn, the writer remarks, 
'' he was not a man who could make one duty an 
excuse for shirking another : within his conscience 
there was no conflict between the claims of religion 
and patriotism : he did not fly from the world, but 
faced it with true words and true deeds, as one who, 
as he said himself when, during the storm of perse- 
cution, he rebuked a powerful persecutor, ' was above 
the fear of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and 
must one day come to judgment, because he only 
feared the living God, that made the heavens and the 
earth.' This reverential fear of God — this it was 
that made him fearless of man, that gave him 
^integrity' to 'stand firm against obloquy and perse- 
cution,' and not against them alone, but gave him 
power over himself; strength to resist temptations 
from within as well as to sustain violence from with- 
out ; for it must be borne in mind, that he was not 
one of those who take to piety only when wearied of 
pleasure, ceasing to pluck the rose because they have 
been pricked by its thorns. This ' strong sense of 



* William Penn and Thomas B. Macaulay. — By W. E. 
Forster. 



WILLIAM PENN. 167 

religious duty' was not his because his other senses 
were weak, or because he had satiated them ; nor did 
he refrain from enlisting himself in the service of 
God till he had proved Mammon to be a hard master, 
but, in the strength of his passions, he controlled 
them : in the spring-time of life, when the prizes of 
pleasure and ambition were before him, he chose the 
path of self-denial, and walked in it to the end. 

'^And, this son of a courtier, who thus preferred 
a prison to a court j who chose as the companions of 
his youth, men, whose very name was a bye-word of 
scorn, who, until his forty-first year, had led a life 
of consistent self-control, and proved his sincerity 
by his sufferings and sacrifices, can it be believed 
that he could have thus suddenly found his ' resolu- 
tion give way,' even though '■ courtly smiles and 
female blandishments, had been ' offered' as '■ bribes 
to his vanity?' '' 

Mr. Macaulay's faith in human virtue must indeed 
have been sorely tried — his estimate of the strength 
of religious duty must be but slight — or, instead of 
suspecting " the eminent virtues of such a man,'' he 
would have questioned the probability of so strange 
a fall. But, like most men who are over-doubtino- 
in one direction, he is too believing in another, for, 
if he has little faith in the truth of Penn's profes- 
sions, he has at least a firm confidence in the cer- 
tainty of his own suspicions — if he be sceptical of 
virtue, he compensates for it by being credulous of 
vice; and so, if he refuses to listen to the concurrent 



168 BRIEF MEMOIR OF 

testimony of '^ rival nations and hostile sects," he yet 
gives full credence to the insinuations of party pre- 
judice, and makes up for his disbelief in the general 
estimate of Penn's charactei: by an admission of 
charges, respecting which it is hard to discover the 
facts of which they are the distortion. 

But the voice of history cannot be thus silenced : 
she has already recorded her judgment, from which 
there is no appeal ; nor should Mr. Macaulay cavil at 
its justice, for, strange as it may seem to him, there 
is in it no mystery. 

This Quaker was a strong and a brave, and there- 
fore a free man : he ruled himself, and fearing God, 
feared no other; and so he made posterity his debtor, 
for, that spirit which won freedom for himself, he 
left to it as a legacy, and there is no fear that the 
debt due to him will be unpaid, so long as the in- 
heritance remains. 

The memory of good men is sacred : we treasure 
it, as we value our safety in the present — our hope 
for the future; for, on what, after all, depends our 
national freedom, of which Mr. Macaulay so often 
and so loudly vaunts ? — most assuredly not, as he 
would seem to think,* on the limitations of the pre- 
rogative of our rulers, handed down to us from our 
ancestors, but on that spirit of individual justice, 
which, inasmuch as it breathed in their hearts, made 
that freedom both possible and necessary, of the 

* Macaulay, vol. i. chap. 1. 



WILLIAM PENN. 169 

strength whereof these limitations were and are the 
exact measure. It is not to the fact that for ages 
past Englishmen have had the habit of preventing 
their kings from taking their money^ or making or 
breaking laws at their pleasure, that they owe what 
liberties they possess. These '' three great constitu- 
tional principles/' * as Mr. Macaulay calls them, are 
indeed the signs of our freedom, their prevalence has 
been the measure of its growth, but to suppose them 
to be its origin is to commit the absurdity of taking 
the effect for the cause. Individual self-government, 
that alone is the cause of national freedom — the 
source and guarantee of the liberty of the subject-— 
for that alone makes personal liberty compatible with 
social order; and of this power of self-control, the 
force whereof gauges the freedom of all governments, 
and without which all constitutions — yes, even the 
'^ glorious constitution of 1688'' — are mere waste- 
paper — of this power the highest possible ideal is ^' a 
strong sense of religious duty." 

Alas, then, for our liberties, if ever, as a nation, 
we follow the example of Mr. Macaulay, and rever- 
ence, in place of this spirit, those forms which are 
but its expression, for then indeed will they become 
to us a mockery and a stumbling-block, but until we 
do so, there is no fear that we shall forget that '^ for 
the authority of law, for the security of property, for 
the peace of our streets, for the happiness of our 

* Macaulay, vol. i. p. 29. 

15 



170 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN. 

homes, our gratitude is due," not alone ' to tlie 
Long Parliament, to tlie Convention, and to William 
of Orange," * — to them indeed, but if to them, then 
also to that ^^ mythical person," whose life, grotesque 
as may have been its garb, was, more than that of 
any politician of his day, the incarnation of this 
spirit of self-control, and whose words and deeds 
yet dwell within our memories as witnesses of its 
power. 

* Macaulay, concluding paragraph of vol. ii. 



APPENDIX. 

(See page 81.) 



A REMARKABLE coDJBrmation of the truth of this testi- 
mony in favour of the Indians, is found in the speech of 
Senator Houston of Texas, during the debate on the 
Army bill in the United States Senate, in the session of 
1857-8. He said : — 

" I was associated with the Indians, for they were in 
the army of Jackson in the Creek Nation. After that, 
in 1817, when still a subaltern in the army, I was ap- 
pointed an agent by the government — the first sub- 
agent that ever was appointed : and for twelve months 
I was again associated with them in the transaction of 
business, and renewed the old associations of boyhood. 
After the duties of my agency were over, occasionally 
those associations were preserved, and when, in after 
life, reverses came upon me, and dark clouds fell upon 
my pathway, I spent in exile four years with the 
Indians, with various tribes. Tell me I do not under- 
stand the Indian ? Too well I understand his wrongs. 
Tell me that, with all the advantages of education, and 
all the bright associations of the world, and in all the 
galas of fashion, you are to learn the Indian's character 
and disposition, and the history of his wrongs ! No, sir, 
they are in tradition : they are not in history, and I have 
learned them. I know them, I know his disposition ; 

(171) 



172 APPENDIX. 

I know it well, and better than any officer who is on the 
frontier of the United States. 

If I had not the experience which I have cited, this 
might be considered boasting ; but I feel that I only 
state the truth. I know that their character is as I have 
stated, for I have not failed to conciliate them wherever 
I have tried ; and how ? By even-handed justice. Hold 
the scales of justice suspended with a steady hand 
between yourself and the Indian, and you will have no 
danger from him : it will not be necessary to suspend 
tlie sword above his head, like the sword of Damocles. 
Why, sir, with one twentieth part of the money ex- 
pended to support the army, or even less, you could feed 
the Indians on our borders, and clothe them in comfort- 
able garments ; and then you would need no army except 
to take care of your fortresses, and keep your arms in 
order ; for I am sure you never can rely on a regular 
army, unless you make it like the European armies, of 
hundreds of thousands of men." 



THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 







